Sword Art Online - Reforged
by ApocalypseIsNow
Summary: My take on the SAO anime series. Four elite players, a friendly rivalry and two love stories. When stuck in a virtual world, you are a different person. Join Kirito, Brandon, Asuna, and Avery as people look to them to clear SAO. Rated T for Language, Some Adult Themes, and Violence.
1. Chapter 1

Sword Art Online - Reforged - Ch.1 - The Game Begins

 **I'm back! Welcome to my new project! I really enjoyed watching this Anime, but I thought it lacked some main story points and episodes and I aim to add on to the plot. Keep in mind that there are labeled perspective changes. I'm d trying to make the chapters substantially longer than my other stories, and I'm also trying to keep this updated regularly. New chapters will be released every other Monday, unless specified in the previous chapter. Anyway, enjoy! And don't forget to write those reviews! They really help me out!**

~~~Brandon~~~

"Alright, you ready to do this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I told my best friend Avery as I slipped the nerve gear over my head.

"Hey Brandon, I'll see you on the other side."

"Link start!" We said in unison.

I was so excited, I was finally going to play Sword Art Online. In just a few moments, Avery and I were going to be experiencing an entire new virtual world to conquer.

My uncle helped work on the game with his close friend Akihiko Kayaba in Japan. He flew me over to Japan to beta test the game, and once again later with Avery to play the game for a few weeks.

I followed all the instructions in coordinating my senses and entering my name before being teleported into the game.

I opened my eyes slowly, bright light blinding me for a moment. I brought my hands up to my face, flexing my fingers and stretching my arms.

"Isn't this amazing!?" Avery asked as she jumped onto my back, her long blonde hair cascading around my face and over my shoulders.

"Yeah." I answered in amazement as I spun to take in my surroundings.

We were the center of a massive town, the Town of Beginnings. People were appearing all around us, looking around in the same amount wonder and amazement as Avery and I.

"Want to go kill some monsters?" I asked Avery.

Avery's bright, amber eyes sparked with excitement as I asked her this.

"Hell yeah!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. "But, we should go before everyone else kills everything." She told me.

We walked the long, windings streets of the town before finally exiting it and stepping out into the wild. Before us expanded an impossibly large field of lush green grass and wild flowers. Giant towers could be seen that held up the floors above. One of them was the dungeon, the way up to the next floor.

"If you do your initial motion right, and activate a sword skill at the right time... The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target." I heard a voice say off in the distance.

"C'mon, let's go check this out." I said to Avery as I jogged towards the voice, over a small, gently rolling hill.

I saw two guys at the bottom, one had just lunged forward using a sword skill to kill a wild boar.

"I did it! That was awesome!" He exclaimed.

I recognized the other player from when I played the beta.

"Hey! Kirito!" I called out as we approached the pair.

Kirito turned towards us, and smiled as he recognized me.

"Hey Brandon. It's been a while." Kirito said.

"It has. What do you think of the full version? Pretty sweet huh?" I asked.

"Yeah." He agreed. "Oh, um this is Klein, I just met him a little while ago." Kirito told me, sheathing his sword.

"Nice to meet you Klein. I'm Brandon and this is my friend Avery."

Klein immediately jumped towards her, striking what seemed like an intentional pose.

"So, how old are you? You single? You're pretty cute." Klein said all at once.

"Um..."

THUNK!

Kirito and I laughed as Avery kicked him the balls and sent him flying backwards.

"Ow!" Klein exclaimed. "Oh right, no pain."

"Well it was nice meeting you guys." Klein said. "I've got a pizza coming soon though, so I'm going to log out now."

Klein swiped his right hand down to bring up his menu and logout, but froze before doing so.

"What's wrong?" Kirito asked.

"There's no logout button."

"Huh?!" Kirito gasped.

Kirito pulled up his menu and navigated to where the logout button should've been. Over his shoulder, I saw that the button was just an empty, white rectangle.

"Maybe it's a bug? I mean this is a brand new game." Klein suggested, his voice quivering with worry.

At that moment, our bodies started glowing brightly and we appeared back in the main square of the Town of Beginnings. People were looking around frustrated, some looked scared as well.

"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito murmured under his breath.

"Look!" Avery shouted, nudging me and pointing up towards the sky.

A single, blood red cell flashed in the sky with the words "System Announcement" on it. More cells popped up around it until they formed a dome around the square.

A thick, red liquid began to drip from the top of the dome, pooling into a sphere that was suspended in the air. Once the sphere was filled, the liquid churned in the sky before flashing violently. A giant form of a man in a robe floated above us.

"Attention, players. I welcome you to my world." The giant form said.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world." Akihiko said to the crowd.

"What's he mean by that?" Kirito asked no one in particular.

"I'm sure by now most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menu."

People gasped as they brought up their menu and saw the logout button was gone.

"The logout button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be." Akihiko explained.

"He's kidding, right?" Klein asked nervously.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

"No way!"

"That's such bullshit!"

"Are you listening to this crap?" Klein asked. "He's got to be nuts, right?"

"He's not." I answered. "My Uncle helped develop the NerveGear, it works just like microwave. If the safety is disabled, it could fry your brain. Plus it's got an internal battery so cutting its power is pointless." I explained.

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." Akihiko said sullenly.

"Two hundred thirteen..." Kirito muttered.

"No way, I don't believe it!" Avery exclaimed.

"It is important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops below zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now, you are all on floor 1, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game." Akihiko told us.

"Also, I've placed a present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

"A mirror?" Kirito said.

My vision flashed as I peered into my own mirror and I looked around.

"Who are you?!" Someone asked as we made eye contact.

"I'm me! Who are you?"

"Wait... Kirito? Klein?" Avery asked.

I looked down at my mirror and dropped it on the ground in shock. I looked just like I did in real life, and so did Avery.

"How's it know what I look like?" Klein asked.

"The NerveGear can scan what your face looks like, and the calibration test we took when setting up the NerveGear stored our physical information." Kirito explained.

"Why? What's the point?"

"I think he's about to tell us."

"Right now, you're probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was simple. The reason I created SAO was to control the fate of a world of my design."

"This is crazy..." Avery whispered.

"As you can see, I achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of SAO, but before I go, I have one more thing to say" Akihiko said, the massive form turning to face me, and in perfect English began to speak to me:

"To you, Brandon Wakahisa, your Uncle, and my dear friend, begged me to allow you a way to leave when he discovered my intents, so you are the only person who will be able to logout of Sword Art Online, but I hope you will stay." Akihiko told me. "Players, I wish you all the best of luck."

"Brandon..." Avery started to say, but I quieted her as the crowd erupted with explicit remarks towards Akihiko.

Akihiko's malevolent form melted into the thick liquid and spilled onto the ground, dissolving into colorful shards of light before it reached the players.

"C'mon guys, we gotta get out of here." Kirito said, sprinting from the square.

I grabbed Avery's hand and followed him into town.

"Guys, I can't go any further." Klein said as we approached the outer wall of the Town of Beginnings.

"I've got some friends of mine here and they're back at the Plaza. I can't just leave them there." Klein told us. "I can't ask a few people I just met to help a bunch of complete strangers. I'll be fine."

"Alright, but if you're in a jam, just message us, okay?" Kirito said before dashing off towards the exit.

"Let's go." I said as I pulled Avery behind me.

I sat on the edge of my bed inside the inn, staring at the logout button on my main menu. It wasn't fair that I could leave, but no one else could.

"What did Akihiko say to you? Kirito asked.

I looked over at Avery's sleeping form. She was the only other one who understood Akihiko.

"He told me I could logout." I told Kirito.

"Why would he..."

"My Uncle worked on the game with Akihiko Kayaba, he begged him to let me be able to leave." I explained.

"Are you going to do it? Logout I mean." Kirito asked.

"I won't do it. I can't leave thousands of people, it's not right. If I die, I'll die with them."


	2. Chapter 2

Sword Art Online - Reforged - Ch.2 - Boss Fight

 **A/N Forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but the first couple chapters are pretty much the same as the anime. However, I will be adding more "episodes" because the story could really use some. (TheSilentSwordsman) Thank you for your intelligent response (I've removed a few guest reviews that were hateful) The scene breaks are indicated by the ~~~~~~~~ lines, but sometimes it may not transfer when I upload the file.**

~~~Brandon~~~

"I can't believe this!" Avery complained. "It's been a month and still no one has found the boss room yet."

"Complaining won't help us find it." I told her. "Besides, that is the point of the meeting we are going to."

"Well, let's find out what Diabel has to say."

"Kirito is here." I said, pointing him out sitting near the top of the amphitheater.

Kirito waved us over and we sat down near the top row of the amphitheater with him, the others were starting to join us until a sizable group of people was sitting in the amphitheater.

A player with a long, red cloak sat to the left of us by themselves, but other than them, we were secluded in the top corner of the seats.

"It's been a little while." Kirito said to us.

"Hey, you're the one who wants to go solo.

A man stepped up to the stage and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Okay people! Now that everyone is here, let's get this meeting started! My name is Diabel, and I welcome each and every one of you." Diabel greeted us. "As you may have heard already, my party found the boss room at the top of the tower today."

"Really?"

"It's about time!"

"Our first order of business to beat the boss and advance to floor 2, to prove to everyone that it is possible to clear this game!" Diabel said.

The group cheered loudly, some people even started to clap.

"We are all going to team up in parties, because the fact is, a single party can't defeat the boss, we need a raid group." Diabel instructed.

People immediately began scrambling around to find parties to join that included their friends.

"I guess we are a party." I said to Kirito and Avery.

"Let's see if they want to join." Kirito said, motioning to the player on our left.

"You get left out?" I heard Kirito ask.

"Not even. I wasn't left out. It's just... Everyone seems like they're already friends." The girl told him.

"Are you solo? You can join our party, it'll only be for this fight." Kirito told her.

The girl let out a slow sigh before accepting Kirito's party invite.

Asuna has joined your party.

"Now that..."

"Hold on a second!" A man interrupted, jumping from the stands down to the stage.

"My name is Kibaou. I need to say something. We all know the two thousand people who have died so far playing this game, and some of you need to apologize." Kibaou demanded.

"You mean, the beta testers?" Diabel asked.

"Of course I mean the beta testers! They abandoned all the new players the day the game launched, taking everything for themselves while letting the new players die! We should make them give up their money and items for leaving us behind!" Kibaou shouted.

"This guy is seriously pissed about this." Avery whispered to me.

A massive man sitting in the front row stood up to address the fuming Kibaou.

"Kibaou, right? My names Agil. You're saying it's the ex-beta testers fault that all those rookies died and that they should give up their winnings and apologize?" Agil asked.

"That's right."

Agil went into his inventory and pulled out a book.

"The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook, and I'm sure you've all got one. The point is, the ex-beta testers were giving these out to players who didn't know about them. Everyone had access to this information. Even so, lots of players died. Now I didn't come here to extort people, I'm here to learn how to beat the boss, so can we please move on?" Agil said calmly before returning to his seat.

Kibaou stood fuming for a few moments before returning to his seat.

"As I was saying," Diabel started. "The boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord, and he's protected by his Kobold Ruin Sentinels. He carries an axe, and when his last health bar turns red, he switches to a curved sword weapon called a Talwar. Money will be divided equally amongst everyone, the party who kills him gets the EXP, and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. We leave at ten in the morning tomorrow. Meeting adjourned!"

"C'mon, my legs hurt. I haven't sat for that long in a while." I said, jumping from my seat and stretching out my legs.

"Hey, are you gonna stay with us, or do you have plans until we leave tomorrow?" Avery asked Asuna, who seemed to be taken aback by the question.

"I... Uh I..." Asuna stuttered.

"Great! Let's go then!" Avery said as she pulled Asuna along with us.

Avery and Asuna chatted quietly behind Kirito and I as we walked towards the inn we had been staying in.

"Hey Kirito, you don't think that Kibaou guy will try to do anything to us if he finds out we were beta testers do you?" I asked.

"Why? Are you worried? That guy wouldn't last a second against either of us." Kirito shot back.

"That's why I'm worried. I don't want him to try to bring us 'justice' and we have to... You know... Kill him." I told Kirito.

Kirito looked sideways at me, studying me for a few moments before speaking.

"If it comes to that, you just gotta do what you gotta do." Kirito replied.

"Even if it means actually killing them?"

"Look at it this way." Kirito said. "Say you're back in the real world and you get jumped by a guy. You have a gun, and he's about to kill you. You'd shoot him, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I would. I just hope it doesn't come to that."

"Don't we all?" Kirito asked.

~~~Avery~~~

"Ah damn it!" Kirito shouted as Brandon knocked down once again.

I had been watching the two boys spar now outside the inn for awhile now. Both of them were great fighters. For one, they had the same body type, tall and lanky, Brandon was a bit bulkier than Kirito, but not by much.

Other than body type, the two were very different. Kirito's hair was long, unkept, and black, Brandon's was short, brown and always being fixed. Both had the same exotic, Asian eye shape, although Brandon's was less defined, barely even there if you asked his family, as well as being grey, compared to Kirito's nearly black irises. Brandon's facial features were also very American, sharp, bold features, Kirito's were soft and rounded.

"Damn it!" Brandon called out as Kirito managed to disarm him.

"One more, let's go." Brandon said to Kirito.

I turned from the boys, looking towards the new girl, Asuna, who was sitting on the edge of a garden box, staring off down the street, some food in her lap. I realized that I hadn't eaten yet either and sat down next to her.

"Do you eat those plain?" I asked, motioning towards her bland looking roll.

"What would I put on it?" Asuna asked.

"Some of this." I replied, going into my inventory and selecting the topping.

A small, clay jar appeared between us on the bench and I dipped my finger into the empty well, a bright circle of blue light on my fingertips. I dragged the circle across my own roll, putting the cream on my food.

"Cream...?" Asuna said surprised as she took some for herself and spread it on her roll.

"Pretty good, huh?" I asked.

"I guess, but I didn't come to this town to eat good food." Asuna replied.

"Why are you here?" I asked her.

I realized how odd my question must've sounded when Asuna sat silent for a few moments.

"So I don't lose sight of who I am." Asuna told me. "I don't want to lock myself in a room in the Town of Beginnings and slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am 'till the last moment. Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose to this game or the this world, no matter what."

I sat quietly after Asuna spoke, thinking carefully about what she just told me. Asuna suddenly stood and began to leave.

"We'll meet here tomorrow morning, 'K?" I shouted to her.

Asuna paused, acknowledging what I had just told her before continuing away.

I sighed quietly to myself as boys finished their sparring and headed into the inn.

~~~Brandon~~~

"One more time. Okay? We're the backup, so our targets are going to be the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Brandon or I will use a sword skill to knock their weapons up, then you or Avery will switch in." Kirito explained.

"What's a switch?" Asuna asked.

"Is this your first time in a party?" I asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Oh boy, this should be good." I said as we approached the dungeon.

We ascended up the tower easily, there were enough of us that the enemies were no problem at all.

We approached the massive door and stopped before going through. Diabel turned and thrusted his sword into the ground.

"Listen up everyone!" He announced. "I've only got one thing to say to you, let's win!"

With that, we cheered and stormed the room. At the far end, a large, red lizard being sat on its throne. The creature stood from its throne before leaping forward and drawing its weapon and shield. It unleashed a bellowing roar and its minions spawned.

We watched as his four health bars appeared and filled, and his name appeared above his head.

Illfang the Kobold Lord.

"Attack!"

Everyone was fighting their heart out. Swords clashed against Illfang and his Ruin Sentinels, and mine was among those.

"Switch!" I yelled as I knocked up the Sentinel's weapon.

"Got it!" Asuna replied, rushing in at blinding pace, slashing the Sentinel to pieces.

"Wow." Kirito said astonished.

"She's good!" Avery commented.

Asuna was good, she was lighting fast, maybe even as fast as me and Kirito.

Just then, Illfang leaped back and threw away his weapons, his last health bar had turned red.

"The guidebook was right!" I heard Kibaou say.

"Stay back! I got this." Diabel announced.

As Diabel approached Illfang, he drew his new weapon. Kirito and I both looked at each other, knowing that Illfang's weapon was not a Talwar, it was a No-Dachi.

"Wait, stop!" Kirito shouted.

It was too late. Illfang jumped up and bolted between the pillars of his chamber at a blinding speed, before shooting towards the ground and slashing straight through Diabel.

"Diabel!" Kirito shouted in alarm and rushed to his side as the rest of us squared up to Illfang.

"... the boss... for everyone here." I heard Diabel say, before exploding into shards of dazzling bright light.

"Let's do this." I said to Kirito as he stood from where Diabel's body was.

"Just like with the minions." Kirito said, and the three of us nodded in acknowledgement.

Kirito and I stepped towards Illfang as he charged us, throwing up our blades, forming an "X" and blocking Illfang's attack, sending him reeling backwards.

"Switch!" We both yelled.

Avery and Asuna rushed forward, slicing and slashing Illfang as he tried to regain his balance.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted as Illfang swept his blade downward.

Asuna twisted under the blade, avoiding it, except for her cloak, which disintegrated from her body.

I heard Kirito audibly gasp as Asuna's cloak revealed her to us. She was beautiful, long, auburn hair, striking amber eyes, and delicately defined features. Kirito and I were physically stunned for a few moments, but we couldn't afford to be.

"He's coming back!" I warned, diving and rolling to the side in time to dodge Illfang's blade.

Kirito was a fraction slower, and was caught by the blade, a bright, multi-colored gouge was opened on his chest, any less of a reaction and he would've been cut clean in half.

"Kirito!" Avery and I called out, while rushing to his side, Asuna joining us.

As we reached him, we looked behind us to see Illfang bearing down on us, his blade swinging downward. His blade was blocked, however, a war axe meeting it and sending Illfang sliding backwards.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health is back up!" The man shouted. I recognized him from the meeting yesterday, Agil, the massive black man who stood up against Kibaou.

"C'mon, drink this. Let's go!" I said to Kirito, offering him a healing potion and pulling him to his feet.

"One last attack. Let's kill this bastard!" Kirito yelled after consuming the potion.

The four of us rushed the large red lizard beast, ready to take him down. Our blades flashed in and out of him, slashed him up and down as we danced fleetly around him.

Flipping up onto his head, I stabbed the lizard in the back and hopped down, slashing his leg on the tumble down. Avery drove her sword through his knee, sending him the ground, and Asuna tore his chest to ribbons, before Kirito lunged forward and unleashed all of his power in one sword skill, cutting Illfang, the Kobold Lord in half.

Cheers erupted as Illfang exploded in shards of colorful light.

I leveled up 3 times instantly, boosting even further ahead of the people I was fighting with, while also receiving a new weapon, The Blade of Midnight. It was a two-handed blade though, and my strength wasn't high enough to use it either. I noticed the other three got items as well.

"That was some fine teamwork. Today's victory is all thanks to you." Agil complimented us.

Everyone started cheering for us. I could feel some heat rush to my cheeks.

"Stop cheering!" A voice demanded.

The crowd parted down the middle, Kibaou and some others were gathered together, seemingly mourning.

"Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?" Kibaou asked.

"Let him die?"

"You heard me! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could've warned us! Then Diabel would've stood a chance and wouldn't have died!" Kibaou accused Kirito.

"I know how he knew!" Another chimed in. "He used to be a beta-tester!"

"And I bet he isn't the only beta-tester here! Show yourselves!" Kibaou demanded.

People began whispering uncomfortably, studying our party.

"Hey! Calm down!" I told Kibaou, stepping protectively in front of Kirito.

Kirito then suddenly started laughing, a cackling, maniacal laugh.

"You think I used to be a beta-tester? It's not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs." Kirito said.

"Wha- What?" Kibaou stammered.

"You heard me. Most of the people who played SAO's beta were rookies, they were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Even all of you are better than them." Kirito explained.

"But I'm not like those guys. During the beta I made it to floors higher than any other tester. I knew about the boss because I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors. I know a bunch of other things too, more than any info broker."

"If that's true, you're worse than a beta-tester! You're a goddamn cheater!" Kibaou accused.

"He's a beta-tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!" Another person shouted.

Kirito paused momentarily, opening up his menu.

"A beater. I like it." Kirito responded, a flowing black cloak falling onto his shoulders as he did.

"You can call me beater, just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta-testers anymore."

With that, Kirito turned and walked towards the entrance to floor two.

Asuna chased him to the stairs, while Avery and I backed slowly away, letting Agil separate us from some of the angry players.

"When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name." Asuna told Kirito.

"I wasn't trying to be rude, did I mess up the pronunciation?" Kirito asked.

"How'd you even know it?" Asuna asked, as Avery and I turned to face Kirito and Asuna.

"If you look right about here," Kirito said, pointing to the top left of Asuna's vision, "you'll see other HP gauges below yours. There's names written next to them."

"Oh. I'm so dumb!" Asuna said giggling.

"You can all become powerful here on your own, but if the day comes when someone you trust invites you to join a guild, don't turn it down, because there're limits to what a solo player can do." Kirito told us.

"But you're solo." Avery said to him.

As Kirito started to walk away, I grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"We are always just a message away." I told him. "And we will become powerful, together."

"And without me."

With that, Kirito continued up the steps and onto floor two to open the teleport.

"We should get out of here." Avery suggested.

The three of us climbed up the steps onto the ground of floor two, Kirito nowhere to see, the teleport already activated.

"Only 99 more to go." I said.

"Together." Asuna said firmly, extending her hand to me.

"Until the end." Avery added, taking ahold of Asuna's hand.

I added my own on top of theirs and smiled triumphantly.

"Let's kick some ass." I said, taking off down the dirt trail towards the nearby town, Asuna and Avery right on my heels.


	3. Chapter 3

Sword Art Online - Reforged - Ch.3 - Knights of the Blood Oath

 **Sorry it's a day late. Got caught up in studying for my finals and forgot to post it yesterday.**

~~~Brandon~~~

It's been three weeks since we cleared floor 1. The boss on floor two was much easier to find and kill than Illfang was, and we beat it without any deaths in our raiding group, or the _Assault Team_ , as someone so aptly named it.

Now we were on floor 3, everyone was leveling for the boss raid that was happening in a few days, preparing for what would hopefully be a successful fight.

"Hiya!" I shouted as I sliced a giant scorpion in half.

"Nice job guys! Our route is clear for today." Avery told us as she double checked out quota for the day.

"Good. I'm tired." I admitted.

"You coming Asuna?" Avery called over shoulder as we started towards the dungeons exit.

"Huh? Yeah."

We walked quietly through the chambers of the dungeon, tired and content with our accomplishments today.

"Hey, Brandon?" Asuna asked.

"What's up?"

"Is your strength high enough to use that sword you got from Illfang yet?" Asuna questioned.

"It is, but I don't really like two-handed weapons, they slow me down." I told her.

"Y'know," Asuna started. "I heard that there is this quest somewhere in the southwest of this floor that rewards you with a new skill that lets you modify your weapons."

"Do you think it would let me alter the stats of my sword enough to make it one-handed?" I asked Asuna.

"There's only one way to find out." She replied.

"Tomorrow, of course. I'm done fighting for today." Avery interjected.

"Of course. Wouldn't want to do it on an empty stomach either." I replied, my stomach growling loudly, eliciting a giggle from the girls.

I rolled my eyes at them as we neared town, ready for the day to be over.

"Does it have to be so early?" I asked Asuna.

"Stop being a baby, eight isn't even that early." Asuna replied.

"Sure." I said, falling backwards onto my bed.

"Goodnight!" Asuna said, her voice sounding slightly annoyed as she closed the door.

I opened my menu and selected my sleeping clothes, just basic, comfortable clothes, my armor and sword disappearing as I climbed under the covers.

It's weird. I thought. It's starting to feel less and less like a game, and more like a new life, maybe it's the routine?

I shook my thoughts from my head and drifted off to sleep.

~~~Asuna~~~

"He can be such a baby sometimes." I told Avery as I walked into our shared room at the inn.

"I wouldn't take anything he says seriously, or personally, he's always been like that." Avery said to me as I sat down on the edge of my bed.

"How long have you known him?" I asked.

"Since we were 10, we're 16 now, sometimes I think it's been too long." Avery said with a sigh.

"Why's that?"

"Brandon can be an asshole sometimes, a real dick actually, but only if he really cares about you. Sometimes he gets a bit carried away. I think he brings out the best in people though." Avery told me.

"Because...?"

"He expects a lot from people, and since he is a productive, popular, reliable guy, people want to live up to those expectations."

"I see." I said, dropping my vision and thinking about how hard my parents can be on me.

"You alright Asuna?" Avery asked.

"Yeah. Just thinking about the real world." I replied.

I looked over at Avery, who at the mention of the real world, drew her knees up to her chest.

"Avery? What's wrong?"

I could see tears flowing down her cheeks as she sat on her bed.

"Everyone wants to go back." Avery choked out. "But I don't want to."

"Don't you feel trapped here?" I asked her.

"I feel better here, stronger. I don't have anything back irl. I live with my Mom who comes back with a different guy each night, some of which who wanted and forced 'favors' from me, my Dad was abusive, my grades were dropping, my friends were leaving me." Avery explained. "There, I'm weak, but here, I'm strong, people respect me, even look up to me. And none of that other stuff in the real world matters."

"Avery... I..." I said, stumbling over my own words, my own tears starting to build.

"Goodnight Asuna." Avery said, turning away from me, leaving me to my thoughts.

"Brandon!" I shouted, slamming my fist into his door. "Get out here before I go in and kick your ass out!"

The door opened and Brandon walked straight into me.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry." He grumbled. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

Brandon waved us down the hall of the inn. We left the inn and headed for the teleporter in the town square.

"Hold up a moment!" A voice called as we were about to initiate the teleport.

We turned to see three men, decked out in white and red armor, most likely dyed.

"My name is Heathcliff." The man in front said. "We overheard you yesterday saying that you were going to find a quest in the southwest of this floor."

"That's right." Brandon told them.

"The thing is," Heathcliff started. "We attempted that quest, with six of us. There's an enemy there that is more powerful than any non-boss entity."

"A boss tier enemy?" I asked.

"Not quite, since only a single party is allowed into the enemies room, but he is extremely strong. I don't mean to impose on you three, but I know you are powerful players, and we came to ask if we could help, to get revenge." Heathcliff said.

"He has impressive stats, Asuna. His defense is way higher than anyone I've seen." Brandon said, nudging me. "And the other two aren't half bad either."

"It's not my choice." I said as Heathcliff's request popped up in front of Brandon. "But they couldn't hurt our attempt."

Heathcliff, Dante, and Itsuki have joined your party.

"To Suttsu in the southwest I presume?" Heathcliff asked.

We gave them a nod and teleported, our bodies disappearing in a blinding flash of white light.

"I hate that, it feels weird." Brandon mumbled as we stepped out from the teleporter.

I heard Heathcliff and the others appear behind us as we left the small town in search of the quest giver.

"It's there." Heathcliff told us, pointing to a massive oak tree a little ways a way. "The fight takes place underground, make sure you all are ready."

The tree had an opening between the thick, tangled, roots with a ladder leading to the depths below it. In front of the opening, a sobbing npc woman being consoled by a npc man.

"Please!" The man called out to us. "My wife and I were out for a walk when a thief came and stole my wife's family pendant. If you could get it back for me, I can reward you."

Quest Accepted

"Is the enemy right below us?" Brandon asked.

"Right below us." Heathcliff confirmed .

"Don't worry." Avery said, drawing her sword and shield. "We've got this."

~~~Brandon~~~

I went first into the pit, descending into the inky blackness. The ladder seemed impossibly long, but eventually, I reached the bottom. The area remained enveloped in complete darkness. I heard the others following suit and stepped further into the darkness. As Itsuki took his final step off the ladder, the room lit up. Torches ignited along the walls of a dusty, long corridor. I lead our party down the corridor to a heavy wooden door at the end.

"Ready?" I asked as I grasped the door's handle.

They all gave a slight nod and I pushed the door open. The room was huge and open, extending upward into the hollowed out oak tree. The walls were smooth, slabs of stone, the floor, a tangled mess of flat tree roots that allowed movement without tripping.

I drew my sword and took a few steps into the room, scanning it.

"Hehehehe!" A voice giggled from the far end of the room.

"Someone come to challenge the King of Rats?" The voice echoed across the empty room.

A gangly, short form dropped from somewhere inside the hollowed out trunk, landing on its feet in the center of the room.

"Perhaps you came to get this?" The cloaked creature asked, a dazzling pendant inlaid with a gleaming purple gem hanging from his hand.

"We have." I answered.

"Oh goody! I've been waiting for you!" He said cheerily.

The creature drew a short-sword from his belt, twirling it carelessly. The creature then pulled two orbs from his cloak, they were opaque, their colors swirling along the surface and he dropped them on the ground, multi-colored gas escaping and forming hulking clouds.

"Oops!" He giggled, flipping away.

The clouds of gas condensed, two massive, sword wielding stone warriors stood in where the smoke had been. Their eyes glowed red and their bodies cracked and groaned as they began to move.

"The stone warriors are immortal, we have to kill the Rat to destroy them." Heathcliff informed us.

"Go! Find the Rat! We'll hold off these guys!" Avery shouted.

I nodded and took off running, Asuna close behind me. I slid between the giant warriors legs, barely avoiding his massive stone sword. I could hear giggling coming from somewhere in the room.

"Come and fight me you coward!" I shouted as I stood in the center of the room.

"Ah? A two on one? No fair!" He giggled, dropping to the floor in front of us.

The Rat pulled a seed from his belt and tossed it at us. The seed exploded open, vines curling and reaching for Asuna, successfully grabbing ahold of her arms and legs.

"Ungh! Brandon!" Asuna shouted as the vines held her above the ground.

"That's better!" The Rat laughed, lunging towards me.

I blocked his strike, sparks erupting from our blades as he flipped over my head. He brought his blade towards me from behind, but I rolled away just in time. He came at me again, his strikes astoundingly fast, I could barely keep track of them.

I blocked his attacks as I looked for an opening in his pattern, but there wasn't one.

Maybe with a strong enough blow I could get some hits in. I thought.

Charging up a powerful sword skill, I blocked one more strike, and as he went to go again, I swung my blade up to meet his, shattering his sword and sending the small creature flying backwards, his health dropping to red. I lunged forward, but his body was gone.

"Very good! But you've still got some work to do!" He taunted.

I stood ready, scanning for him in the dim room, when suddenly I felt a force land on my shoulders and a hot feeling erupted from my chest. I dropped my sword, and as I looked down, a sword hilt protruded through my chest and I fell to my knees.

"Oh? It was a good fight though." The Rat told me.

I gasped and shook as I watched my health drain, trying to remove the blade from my chest.

"Times u...!"

The Rat was cut off and I felt his weight drop from my shoulders. Seeing him on the floor, I pulled the blade from my chest and drove it through the Rat's own chest as he tried to scamper away, pinning him to the ground.

"Brandon!" Asuna shouted as I fell over, my breathing ragged and panicky.

"Thank you, Asuna."

"Drink this, now." Asuna said, handing me a healing potion.

I drank it as I watched the Rat King tried to escape from being pinned.

"Oh dear! It appears you have won!"

And with that, he shattered into thousands of tiny shards of light, which dissipated into the air. Behind me and Asuna, I heard the stone warriors crumble to floor.

A menu screen popped up, with my exp gains and an item, _The Family Pendant_.

"Brandon!" Avery called out, rushing to my side, concerned.

"I'm okay." I told her.

"That was some great fighting." Heathcliff said as our three other party members joined us.

I stood from the cold, hard ground with the help of Avery and Asuna, my body still shaking from my near death experience.

"Let's finish this quest, I don't want to be here anymore." I told them all as I grabbed my sword, pulling it from the ground and sheathing it on my back.

We returned to the surface, the sun beginning to set, casting the sky with the beautiful bright colors of orange, yellow, and purple. The man and woman still sat beside the tree, waiting.

"Thank you!" The man cried, removing the pendant from my inventory. "Here's your reward, as promised."

A handsome amount of gold appeared on my menu screen, and I automatically shared it with my party.

"If you don't mind, my wife has something for you as well." The man told us, ushering the woman towards us.

"This secret has been kept to my family for dozens of generations. Please use it wisely."

The woman held out a scroll, and I took it. It was a unique skill.

"Tempering - Allows the user to reshuffle stats on legendary weapons to better suit a play style." I read aloud to my party.

"We should head back to town before it gets dark." Heathcliff suggested as I turned to face them. "I have something I want to discuss with you three."

"You better share that with me." Avery said, elbowing me in the stomach.

"Ow! Ok!"

~~~Avery~~~

"You want us to what?" I asked Heathcliff.

"I want you three to join my guild, The Knights of the Blood Oath. We're up to around fifty players now, and you would all be promoted to officers immediately for your help today." Heathcliff told us.

I looked over at Brandon, who had his arms crossed and was leaning back slightly in his chair, then to Asuna, who had a slight smile on her face.

"I'll do it." Asuna said.

"I'm in too." I answered.

Brandon gave a sigh before speaking:

"Count me in."

"Great! Here, take these dyes and color your armor, it'll make you recognizable by the other guild members." Heathcliff instructed, bringing up his guild management menu. "And... There! You are all now officers of The Knights of the Blood Oath. I look forward to fighting alongside you more."

"Where do you guys meet?" I asked.

"Well we don't have a set headquarters yet. Once we get to the higher floors I'm sure we will find something. As for now, we rent the Great Hall in The Town of Beginnings when we meet." Heathcliff told us. "We should be getting going now, keep a look out for my messages, and I know you will grow powerful inside, and out of the guild."

I opened up my inventory as Heathcliff and his two friends left the restaurant.

"I like the color scheme." Asuna said, standing from her seat and showing off her new white and red armor.

"It suits you." I told her, putting my armor dye on my own armor.

"Man, we look good like this!" Brandon exclaimed, looking himself up and down in his new colors.

"I have to show you this too." Brandon added, switching his equipped weapon. " _Midnight's Effigy_ , pretty cool, huh?"

Brandon pulled the blade from its black sheath. The blade was beautiful, a beautiful dark purple, the color of obsidian, that glittered in the light. The sword was wider and longer than most common one-handed weapons, but it was a legendary weapon.

"It's awesome! And beautiful!" Asuna said, taking the blade from Brandon's hands only to have it pull her to the floor.

Brandon and I laughed as Asuna struggled to bring the blade back up to Brandon.

"Jeez! What's your strength? Like a thousand?" Asuna asked, panting from the exertion.

"Not quite." Brandon told her as he sheathed the blade and put the sheath on his back.

I closed my eyes for a moment as Brandon continued to poke fun at Asuna, ready to start a new chapter in this world with a powerful guild, and with my two best friends.

This game doesn't stand a chance. I thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Sword Art Online - Reforged - Ch.4 - Murder She Wrote

~~~Kirito~~~

I walked back into town, tired and starting to hurt from fighting all day. We were almost a tenth of the way done with SAO, and in that time, I had gained quite the reputation.

"The Black Swordsman!" I heard someone say to their friend as I strolled into town.

I guess being a solo player who has participated in every boss raid made me an important figure in people's eyes.

"Kirito!" I heard a familiar voice call out from behind me.

I turned to see Avery, several Knights in uniform marching in formation behind her.

"Dismissed!" She shouted, the men falling out of formation and slinking off to wherever.

"Been awhile, Kirito." Avery said as she approached me.

"Yeah, I don't really like all the company." I told her, reaching my hand up behind my head to scratch it.

"C'mon, I'll buy you a drink. It's not everyday you get to talk to The Black Swordsman." Avery said, playfully hitting my chest.

"Alright." I agreed.

"Where are Brandon and Asuna? I thought they'd be with you?" I questioned as we walked further into town.

"They're off doing important guild stuff. Y'know the boring things, but that's what they get for being second and third in command of The Knights of the Blood Oath." Avery told me.

"Why aren't you doing that?"

"Me? I'd rather die than do that stuff. I like to boss people around out in the field instead." Avery admitted.

"How'd they get up the ladder that fast? I mean they didn't even know Heathcliff a few weeks ago, right?" I questioned.

"They're easily the two best players in the guild, and they know how to lead. Helping Heathcliff with his errands probably gets them some brownie points as well." Avery told me.

I opened the door to the tavern and held it open for Avery and followed her in.

"What is it you do for the guild anyway?" I asked.

"I'm in charge of the army and most field operations, unless one of the counsel members are there. My technical title is Chief Field Officer." Avery explained.

"Do Brandon and Asuna ever go into the field?"

"Only for boss fights and to level, and they usually level together. They don't ever participate in patrols though. They're too important for the small things, I guess they kind of left me behind."

"I see."

There was a quick break in our conversation as we ordered our drinks.

"Enough about the guild. What have you been up to Kirito?" Avery asked me.

"Same as most everyone else, getting stronger. I kinda have a habit of getting into situations that are kind of sticky, but I can't just leave someone that I know needs help." I told her.

"Don't get into too much trouble." Avery said with a smile. "What level are you anyway Kirito? A solo player like yourself must be way above us because you don't have to share EXP."

"Eighteen." I mumbled.

"Eh? Wow! Really?! Nice going! I'm only thirteen myself, Brandon and Asuna are somewhere around fifteen. I thought they were high up there!" Avery told me.

Our drinks arrived and we each sipped ours for a moment, letting ourselves finally relax after a long day.

"Why are you solo Kirito?" Avery questioned.

I looked down into my glass, then up at Avery.

"I don't want to have to worry about anyone I care about dying on me. My own survival is the only thing I can insure, so I stay by myself." I explained.

"I see." Avery responded, giving me a somewhat judging glare.

It was getting late now, and the tavern was getting busier as more people came in to unwind after a long day.

"Well I have to get going Kirito. Don't forget to show up for the boss raid this weekend. I'll see you then." Avery said, standing from her seat and paying for her drink before leaving.

Is it bad that I care about my own life? I thought. It doesn't mean I don't care about people, I just couldn't bear it if a party member died on me. I'd never forgive myself.

~~~Avery~~~

"How many times do we have to go over this? I give you an order, you follow it. Now go, before I change my mind!" I heard Brandon shout as I walked into our current counsel room, one of our many captains leaving the chamber as I came in.

"Brandon!" I called out as he tucked his chin in and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hey Avery."

"Guess who I just had a chat with?" I asked him.

"Who?"

"Kirito! He was up on floor ten, I saw him as I was heading back into town after our last patrol." I told him.

"Yeah? What's he up to?"

"Same thing as us, just by himself instead. He seemed like he really wanted to keep his distance from us." I said.

"Well, Kirito is an interesting guy." Brandon replied.

Brandon moved away from the counsel's table and towards the door where I was.

"I wanted to tell you," Brandon started. "We're leading the next boss raid, and Asuna and I thought you should lead the raid."

"Me?" I asked stunned.

"Is there anyone else I could be talking to?"

"No, it's just... I don't know what to say." I responded.

"Asuna and I will still be there, but Heathcliff wants us to evaluate other officers talents." Brandon explained. "And what better way to test them than with a boss raid?"

"Are you questioning my abilities?" I asked softly, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

"Eh? No! It's not like that! We just wanted to give other officers chances to show off!" He said defensively.

"I want a duel."

"What?"

"I said, I want to duel. Tomorrow." I answered sternly.

"Yeah, sure. I'm sorry if what I said sounded rude. I didn't mean to be. I know you're an outstanding player Avery, plus, you got all these men and women in order. I couldn't have done that." Brandon reassured me.

Feeling a little better about myself and about what Brandon said, I walked back up to Brandon and we continued towards our rooms.

"You still want to duel tomorrow?" Brandon asked.

"Of course. I'd never back out of a fight."

"C'mon Avery. How long do you need?" Brandon asked, as I finished warming up for our duel.

"Don't be such a baby." I told him, setting my stance, sword at the ready.

I waited as Brandon accepted the duel invitation and the countdown began.

3

Breathe in.

2

Breathe out.

1

I got this.

I lunged at Brandon as the duel began. He brought his sword up to meet my blow while spinning off and behind me. I quickly spun around in time to block his strike above my head. Holding his sword back with my shield, I sent an attack back at him. Brandon slid his sword across the surface of my shield, causing sparks to erupt everywhere as he somehow managed to block my strike. I then used my shield as a weapon, swinging my arm at him, but he caught the edge with his free hand.

"What the?"

Brandon stabbed at me while he held my shield and I moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the tip of his gorgeous blade, but he brought the blade down at that moment. I felt the metal get buried into my shoulder.

"You'll have to... Do... Better!" I shouted, propelling my counterattack.

~~~Brandon~~~

I brought my sword down from my quick jab at Avery's face, catching her in the shoulder.

Avery stared into my eyes, I was stunned momentarily, not sure if any time had actually passed or not. Her amber eyes gleamed slightly in the morning sun.

Avery had been my best friend for a long time now, I still remember the day I met her. She was the tiny, cute, new girl who had just moved into town. She kept to herself, I was the only one who talked to her for the most part.

After all this time, it was at that moment I realized just how beautiful and strong Avery was.

"You'll have to... Do... Better!" She shouted, knocking my sword up and out of her shoulder and bringing her own sword down at me.

I pulled on her shield, knocking her off balance and throwing her to the ground. On her way to the ground, Avery's sword caught my arm, slashing a glowing orange gash open along my forearm down to my hand.

Avery turned her fall into a roll, using her shield to push herself up into the air, completing a flip and landing on her feet. Avery stood at the ready, sword and shield poised, and she suddenly fell to one knee.

"Avery?" I asked, concerned, but without dropping my guard.

Avery was panting heavily as she stood again at the ready.

"I hope that isn't all you got." Avery taunted, her amber eyes burning hot with ambition.

Avery came at me, swinging mercilessly, blow after blow, block after block. I controlled my breath and watched her blade blink through the cool morning air, memorizing her sword strokes, which unbeknownst to her, formed a familiar pattern.

I prepared for the repeat in her pattern, and as one of her strikes came, I spun to the right and swung my sword down, knocking hers out of her hand. I brought the sword up to her throat, ending our duel with my victory.

I could hear cheers and clapping as the duel ended. We had attracted quite the crowd of fellow guild members and town people and I hadn't even noticed.

I picked Avery's sword up from the ground, and sheathed it on her back. She still appeared stunned at her loss, her eyes open wide, and nostrils flared. Avery finally lowered her stance from her surprised, last resort defense position and put her shield on her back.

"That was the toughest duel I've ever had." I told her.

Avery looked up from the ground, a huge smile spreading across her face.

"I'll get you next time Brandon." She told me.

Avery took a step towards me and hesitated momentarily before wrapping her arms around me and giving me a tight hug. It caught me off guard and I just stood there, her head just nestled below my chin.

"Sorry, I, um... Sorry." Avery said flustered.

"No it's fine... It's just..."

"Brandon! Avery!" I heard a voice shout from behind me.

I turned to see Kirito, carrying one of our Knights in his arms.

"Kirito? What's going on?" I inquired, rushing over to him.

"I saw them do it." He muttered.

"Saw what? What did you see?"

"They killed him. Cut him right in half." Kirito stammered.

"You mean someone was killed?" I asked him.

"I couldn't save them both. But I scared him away."

"Kirito tell me what happened!" I demanded.

"I was near the dungeon on floor ten, and I heard screams. So I followed them into the trees and saw a player kill the other guy. They had both been paralyzed, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't save him." Kirito explained.

"Was the other a Knight?" Avery asked softly.

Kirito nodded and placed the girl in his arms on the ground and used a crystal to un-paralyze her. The girl immediately started crying.

"It's okay. You're safe now." I tried comforting her. "Can you tell us what happened so we can try to help?"

The girl nodded and sniffed, wiping tears away from her face.

"Can you tell us your name?"

"Aina." She said quietly. "I was with another Knight, Captain Jurou. We were out finishing our recon mission when we were suddenly paralyzed and attacked by a cloaked player. I would've died too if Kirito here hadn't saved me."

"Damn it." I muttered. "Jurou was the one I was yelling at last night."

"A player did this?" Avery asked shocked. "Why would they do that? Everyone knows if you die here you die in real life!"

"They knew what they were doing." Kirito said.

"I have to go check out the scene. Can you take me there Aina?"

"I'm going with you." Kirito said.

"Me too." Avery added.

"I'll show you where." Aina sniffed, getting off the ground.

The four of us rushed off, following Aina to the crime scene. We went up to floor ten, and off into the woods. We walked for miles, the bush growing thicker around.

"It was here." Aina said as we stopped in a small clearing.

"I can see where you two landed." I told her, approaching the molds their bodies left in the ground.

"How were you guys paralyzed?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, it just happened." Aina explained.

"Something doesn't seem right about this. You don't just get paralyzed, something had to have happened." Kirito replied.

"Kirito is right, it doesn't just happen." Avery chimed in.

"You're right." Aina said suddenly.

"Aina what're you...?" Avery started as Aina stepped back into the woods and players dressed in black robes appeared in a circle around us.

"I paralyzed Captain Jurou. I lead him out here so my friends could kill him, I really wanted that promotion in the guild. Anyway, I wasn't expecting anyone to find us, so I had to improvise and paralyze myself when I heard Mister Black Swordsman approaching, and then you guys wanted to come look at the scene afterwards. This is big. For me that is."

I looked around, about eight players were circled around us.

"I hope you guys are ready to fight." I said to Kirito and Avery, drawing my sword.

"I want to introduce you to my friends, they're part of this guild called The Laughing Coffin. They kill people." Aina giggled.

"Ohh! Imagine what position I'll get when I return! Perhaps a Council Member?"

"Do you remember what I said yesterday Kirito? About not getting yourself into trouble?" Avery said.

"You guys are here too. Maybe you should watch yourselves." Kirito replied with a grin.

"I realize that Kirito. I also realize why you are solo. Don't either of you die on me." Avery told us.

"I hope you realized you made a mistake Aina." I shouted at her as Kirito, Avery and I stood back to back.

"Oh, I doubt it."

With that, the first hooded attacker leapt forward. I blocked his strike as another came charging at me. I spun away away from him, flipping my blade underneath him and nearly slicing him in half, and he shattered. My first attacker went to hit Avery from behind, but I lunged forward and shoved my sword through his chest and killed him. Kirito was fighting three at once, and Avery had killed one that went for her.

I jumped over my last on rushing attacker as he charged, his sword catching my leg as I flipped over him, making me stumble to the ground.

"I would stop right there if I were you." I heard a very familiar female voice say.

I looked up from the ground to see Asuna with Aina at sword point, and nearly twenty Knights encircling us. The hooded players panicked and tried to run but were seized by the guild members, but one was able to teleport out.

"Thanks Asuna." I said as I got up from the ground.

The Knights that helped save us began marching off with the hooded players. Asuna stood threateningly, holding her sword in front of Aina's throat.

"You'll never win." Aina shouted. "You'll die here no matter what. The sooner you face that reality, the sooner all this will become its own world."

"You're crazy." I scolded. "You realize that Jurou is dead? He is never coming back, in this world or the real one. You murdered him."

"Just business." Aina shrugged.

"Get her out of here." Avery spat, Asuna turned and marched Aina away.

I hung my head, thinking about this new threat that has arisen. People hadn't ever thought of killing players before, because that would mean they die in real life. But now it was a real thing to worry about. People killing people was a real thing now. It explained the recent disappearances too.

"I don't get it." I said to no one in particular. "How can someone become so twisted to murder an innocent person in a game?"

"The same way people do it in real life." Kirito said.

"It's a good thing you found her here earlier." Avery said to Kirito. "Otherwise we never would've known."

"Wait a second." I said, realizing something.

I ran to catch up with the captured attackers, each and everyone of them had an orange indicator over their head instead of a green one.

"We can tell." I told Avery and Kirito as they caught up, pointing out the orange colored diamonds that floated above their heads when we inspected their character.

"But look!?" Kirito responded, pointing at Aina, whose marker was still green.

"She never attacked anyone herself, so we never would've known she was involved." Avery said.

"Well this makes things much more complicated." Kirito added, folding his arms across his chest.

"And difficult."

Hey all! Long overdue and I apologize profusely. Anyway I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to leave a response! And I promise the next chapter will come soon and be a little better than this one.


	5. Chapter 5

Sword Art Online Reforged

Ch.5 - The Sand Kingdom

"Where have you gone dear Ocelot? You have nothing to fear, you are a child of dragons." -Oceiros, The Consumed King, Dark Souls III

~~~Brandon~~~

The game flew by, it really did. We went from being stuck on floor one for a month to burning through floors at a blistering, mind numbing pace.

When we were stuck on floor one, I never thought we would make to floor 20, but here we were. I stood on the sandy ground of the newly opened floor, Asuna and Avery to my left. We had just beat the boss on floor 19 minutes earlier and it was our fifth consecutive raid without a death to anyone in the Assault Team. The team now consisted of the top 300 players in SAO, and our guild, The Knights of the Blood Oath, were right at the top, sharing our title of most powerful guild with a couple other guilds who were also growing steadily.

"I kinda wish these fights were a little bit harder." Avery said, finally breaking the silence as we stood.

"Humph. Makes beating this thing easier." I replied.

"We should head into town. Look!" Asuna said, pointing off towards sand dunes in the distance.

As I squinted into the harsh sunlight, I could see dark, swirling clouds of dust and sand rising over the dunes.

A sandstorm.

"Asuna's right. We need to get inside!" I said, running off towards town.

We got into town and ducked inside the inn just as the sandstorm washed over the town, making it impossible to see out the windows to the rest of the town.

"Well this floor is gonna be a blast." Avery said sarcastically.

"You're telling me." I snorted. "If this is gonna happen often it is going to suck trying to clear this floor."

"Can we get rooms? I'm exhausted." Asuna asked.

"That sound like an excellent idea." I told Asuna as I paid for my room.

When I awoke in the morning, the sandstorm had long since faded, but it left behind heaps of sand in the streets. I could see people outside clearing sand away from doors with the help of NPC's.

I quickly changed into my armor and left my room, Avery and Asuna were waiting in the lobby for me.

"God, you take so long in the morning." Avery said, elbowing me.

"Slow to get up maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm better with a sword than you." I shot back with a slight, smug, grin.

"Ouch. That one hurt." Avery replied sarcastically.

"You guys suck. Let's get going." Asuna interrupted.

We stepped out into the streets of the town and set off into the desert. It was early morning, but the sun was already harsh and beating down upon us with a burning intensity that stung my skin.

"Not a lot out here." I said as the town drifted from sight.

"There's bound to be something. Eventually." Asuna replied.

"Hold up. We got company." Avery interjected.

I looked up from the sand and out over the endless sand dunes. On the rise of the next dune, I saw the pixelated animation of a recently spawned enemy dissipating into the air, in its wake were 5 scimitar wielding, hooded monsters. They each had four arms, two held swords, the other two were empty, but clawed.

"Easy. We got this."

I drew my sword as the creatures charged us. The first creature that fell upon us I killed with a single sword stroke, slicing it in half vertically and causing its body to shatter into shards of light. The next four came charging at us. I ducked under a scimitar blow and jumped over the second attacker. I landed on my feet and swung my sword upward, catching one of the creatures across the back and killing it.

I saw Asuna and Avery finishing up with their monsters as the last one turned and came at me again. It swung its right scimitar at me and I brought my sword up only to get out swords locked. It stabbed at me with its right sword, but I put up my right arm in time to send the blade grazing across the shiny metal cuffs of my cloak.

The creature seemed confused about this and I kicked him away and to the ground. I stood over its shadowy form and drove my sword through his chest, making his body dissipate.

"Heh. Easy." I said, breathing heavily.

"Which is why you're panting like a dog?" Avery asked as she sheathed her sword.

"Yeah, 'cause I took out one of yours too." I shot back with a grin.

"Oh now you're in for it!" Avery shouted, jumping on my back and pulling me to the ground.

Avery sent us tumbling down the side of a sand dune, laughing the whole way down until we we came to rest on our backs looking up at the clear blue sky. Asuna did not look amused as she slid gracefully down the side of the sand dune.

"Sometimes... I don't even know with you two." Asuna said.

"Aww c'mon Asuna, lighten up. It's okay to have some fun while we're here." Avery responded.

"Yeah, but not when we've got work to do."

"Lead the way then Ma'am." I mumbled as I brushed sand off of my armor.

Avery and I followed Asuna through the seemingly endless desert. The dungeon had to be somewhere, but I doubted we would find it today.

The heat continued to intensify as we walked, the only thing in sight was sand and sky. I grew weary as we continued on, still nothing other than sand and sky, and was getting more and more frustrated as well.

"Asuna, why don't we call it quits soon? We've been out here almost all day, and I'm not entirely sure we can make it back to town before nightfall." I said.

"Well I hope you packed your overnight bag, 'cause we aren't stopping." Asuna replied, not even bothering to look over her shoulder while she talked to me.

I groaned quietly as she said this, not looking forward to more pointless trekking. I noticed a brown smudge off in the distance, it covered quite a distance, stretching across a few miles. I thought nothing of it and kept on walking, following Asuna. As time droned on, I became increasingly aware of the smudge growing larger and larger.

"Asuna?" I said, receiving no answer from her.

"Asuna!"

"What!?" She asked annoyed.

"There's a sandstorm headed our way." I told her.

"Damn." Asuna and Avery both said as the wall of flowing sand was beginning to bear down on us.

"Now we can we get out of here?" I asked.

"Yeah, let me just get our teleport cry..."

"Don't tell me you forgot them." Avery said.

Asuna's face flushed red and she began to panic. I folded my arms across my chest, I could feel an annoyed smile on my face.

"You're unbelievable y'know?" I told Asuna, chuckling slightly. "You were the one who asked us a hundred times if we had everything."

"Getting mad at her isn't going to help." Avery interjected.

"You know I'm right though!" I shot back. "Asuna always triple checks everyone else to see if they're prepared. It's also nice to know she is human and not actually a robot."

Asuna glared at me, but I stood strong with a large smile on my face.

"C'mon, lighten up Asuna. You don't have to be so serious all the time." I told her.

"But this is serious." Asuna replied.

"You've made one mistake in like, what, 4 months? It's fine Asuna. We've been through worse." I reassured her.

Asuna still only offered an angry stare as the wall of sand bear down on us. I looked in my inventory and pulled out a cloth, wrapping it around my head in a fashion similar to a shemagh.

"It'll help keep sand out of my face." I explained to an obviously confused Asuna.

As the two girls covered up their faces, the sandstorm hit us, blocking out the sky and sunlight. The world got very dark. But as this happened, a notification window opened up in front of each of us.

It read Quest Started: Lost in the Desert. Step 1 - Enter the Desert Temple.

"How are we supposed to find this Temple if we can't even see?" Avery asked frustratedly.

"I don't know, maybe the ground will split apart and show us!" I replied sarcastically.

"Guys!" Asuna shouted. "I think I found it! This hole opened up in the sand over here!"

"You've gotta be kidding me." I muttered to myself.

"I hate you, y'know that?" Avery said teasingly as she walked past me.

"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" I asked her.

All I saw was her throw her hands up bewilderedly. I too was in disbelief, I had made a sarcastic point and it turned out to be correct.

"Should we check it out?" Asuna asked as we reached the edge of the hole.

"Better than being in this storm." Avery said, hopping down into the newly exposed cavern.

"Maybe we'll get some rare items from this." I told Asuna as I joined Avery in the cavern.

As I hit the stone floor, I looked around at what I assumed was the Desert Temple. We were in a rectangular tunnel, the walls were chiseled stone bricks and extended for an unknown distance before me, while a wall was behind me. Our quest also hadn't updated, but there was a map marker now.

"Well there's only one way to go." I said as Asuna hopped down to join us.

"Why do all these dungeons have to be so dark and scary like?" Avery asked as we slowly made our way down the long stone corridor, weapons drawn.

"I think that's the point of a dungeon." Asuna told her.

As we crept down the corridor, the quest marker drew closer and we went further into the inky blackness. It got to the point where I couldn't see my own hands in front of my face, and this gave the air around us an odd feel, as if I were floating in space or underwater. The only sounds were our footsteps and my own ragged breathing in nervous anticipation of what awaited us.

Suddenly, I hit a wall. No matter where we pushed or how hard, it wouldn't budge an inch.

"I don't understand. Where are we supposed to go?" Asuna asked frustratedly.

"It would help if we could actually see." Avery grumbled.

I remained silent, my hands pressed the cool stone in front of me. Maybe we were where we were supposed to be, but just weren't looking in the right places.

I shimmied my way over to the left, bumping into Avery on my way. My left hand met the corner where both walls met. As my hand moved along the left, it met a chain. I grabbed it and pulled down. The entire hallway was then instantly brightly illuminated, making my eyes burn and begin tear up at the sudden change in luminosity, the same happening to the girls as I heard both of them scream in surprise and pain. I could also hear the wall in front of us moving.

Once my eyes had adjusted enough, I opened them to find the quest had updated and before us lay a grand main chamber of what appeared to be the Desert Temple. The entrance was incredibly ornate, decorated with a long, lavish rug and polished marble tiles on the floor. Many limestone statues of a woman in a concealing robe stood on either side of the long, red rug that ran down the middle of the hall accompanied by the many, extremely luminous standing sconces, which were filled with some sort of energy that made them glow brightly. An incredible golden chandelier inlaid with different colored gemstones, hung from the ceiling, capping of the majesticness of the hall. At the end stood two tall, heavy looking stone doors.

"I think we are in the right place." I told the girls.

"Yeah, no shit." Avery replied, taking in the beauty of the hall.

I then remembered the quest had updated, and checked out our new objective.

"Meet with the Princess of Paldia? That sounds pretty cool." I read aloud.

"I think I know where to find her." Asuna told us, proceeding down the hall.

"Wow! I wonder where too?" Avery whispered to me sarcastically.

"Just let her have her moments." I shushed Avery, who wore a pouty look on her face in response to me.

We followed Asuna into the decorated hall, our footsteps echoing loudly in the open chamber. It was quite the walk to the other side, but we eventually reached the other end of the chamber and stood before the monstrous stone doors.

"I hope these are easier to open than they look." I muttered as I stepped up to the doors and placed a hand on each one.

I pushed with all my might, but the doors didn't budge an inch. I stepped back from the doors, inspecting the massive slabs of stone. I expected some harassment from either Avery or Asuna from my inability to open the doors, but none came from them, only curious stares.

"It is either too heavy to open, or it isn't able to be opened." I observed.

"Looks like the doors are actually just one solid piece of rock." Asuna said, examining the area where the doors met.

"How are we supposed to…?" Avery began, being interrupted by the sound of the far entry way being slammed shut, trapping us inside.

The chandelier came crashing down from the ceiling, shattering on the rug and tile floors beneath it. Following the chandelier came a single form which dropped from the hole left in the ceiling. It landed on its feet in a crouched position. It was an armored knight wearing a flowing red cloak and wielding a questionably large greatsword. It stood up, sword in one hand, dagger in the other, and its two health bars appeared above its head as well as its name, Eye of Paldia.

The Knight opened with a leap through the air, flipping forwards and slamming down his large sword, making us scramble desperately out of the way. We all drew our weapons as the Knight swiftly came at me now. It fought elegantly, flipping and spinning around at me, easily swinging its weighty sword at me as I did my best to avoid it. It planted its dagger into the floor and used it to spin itself in a circle and then flip off towards Avery. I charged after it, getting behind and getting some hits in on its back.

"Another one!" Asuna shouted from across the chamber.

I saw another one drop from the hole in the ceiling, but this one had on a blue cloak. The other Knight immediately came charging towards us. I went to move out of the way of its leap attack, but it never came, on us anyway. The Knight unleashed its attack on its fellow Knight, smashing him into the hard marble tiles.

"Another one!" Asuna shouted again, yet another Knight dropping from the ceiling, wearing a red cloak as well.

Avery and I looked at each other quizzically, not entirely sure what was happening. The blue knight flipped away and headed towards Asuna and the Knight she was fighting. The red Knight that just got smashed by the blue one slowly got up and leaped towards where the other two were now fighting.

The three of us watched the three of them fight, in a beautiful display of acrobatics and strength. Our watching was interrupted by a booming voice.

"Won't thou help me silence my corrupted brethren?" The voice asked, resonating throughout the empty chamber.

After a moment of uncertainty, I realized it was the blue caped Knight speaking as he fought the other two Knights. I wasn't sure whether to trust this Knight or not. This was a dangerous game with very real consequences.

"If I do not live, you will be trapped here forever!" The Knight said, projecting his voice throughout the chamber.

"I don't like the sound of that, c'mon guys!" Asuna shouted, rushing into battle.

"We've had tougher battles, right? Let's have some fun!" Avery said to me, joining Asuna.

I grabbed my sword hilt with both hands, holding my blade vertically in front of me. The dark obsidian blade sparkled in the breathtaking light of the chamber.

"You haven't failed me yet. Let's not start here." I whispered to myself.

Then, swinging it down to my left side, I charged into battle. I joined Asuna, Avery, and the blue caped Knight as they fought the two powerful red caped Knights. It took all of our strength to keep them from utterly destroying us, they were faster and stronger than any enemy we had ever fought before. They easily dodged our attacks, fast as they were, and kept on almost catching one of us. The only thing keeping us in the fight was the blue caped Knight, who fought just as well as his red caped counterparts.

After what felt like hours of fighting, everyone's health had been whittled down and I had grown very tired. I couldn't give up though, I couldn't die here. I took a swipe at one of the red Knights, somehow catching him by surprise and slashing him across the chest. The blow sent him off balance, and Asuna pounced on him, jumping towards him and slashing his chest to ribbons. The Knight stumbled backwards, clutching at its chest before falling to a knee. The blue caped Knight then flipped backwards through the air and sliced the kneeling one clean in half, making him shatter into tiny shards of light.

"One down, one to go! We got this, easy!" I proclaimed.

As I said this, I saw the other Knight twitch slightly, then its eyes began to glow red through its helmet. The Knight cast of it's armor and dropped his blades on the ground. The lack of armour revealed a strange humanoid lizard. Its body was shaped like a human's, but covered in mud colored scales, had claws on its hands and feet as well as a long snout filled with sharp teeth.

"Foolish humans" The lizard being laughed. "We are the children of dragons and I will not let you reach our mother!"

The dragon being leaped high into the air and clung to the ceiling. It opened its mouth and flames erupted from his mouth. We all managed to roll out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding the red hot flames. I quickly got back up in my feet as the lizard jumped from spot to spot so fast I could barely keep track of it.

"How are we supposed to hit it! It won't stop moving!" Asuna exclaimed as the beast whittled our health down slowly once again.

"It is hopeless, you fools will die!" The lizard laughed.

As the creature swung towards Avery, our armoured one jumped in the way and slashed at it, catching the other and sending him flying into the wall, shattering the marble tiles and then hitting the ground. The creature stood up slowly and we all charged at it. It had a wicked look on its face and I realized why as it reared its head back and erupted fire on all of us while we were clumped together. I shielded myself as best I could as the fire engulfed us, the girls screaming in terror.

"What the…?" I said surprised as the fire swirled around us and then was drawn straight into me.

"As it was foretold my brother, a dragonslayer will free us with our own fire." Our lizard friend announced.

I panicked as I erupted into flames, but quickly realized that I had newfound strength flowing through me. I looked down at my legs and up at my extended arms, both covered in sheets of hot flames.

"Wow! He's pretty hot." Avery said, stifling a laugh.

"Not the time." Asuna warned her.

The lizard looked terrified as I approached him, shaking in place and falling to his knees. He looked up at me as I raised my sword above my head, a strange look in his small black eyes as he accepted his fate.

My blade passed through his body, making him erupt into fire as he quickly disintegrated.

I turned in time to see our lizard friend jump back into the hole in the ceiling, hanging out from the edge.

"Thank you for helping me fulfill my duty." He said before disappearing for good.

The massive stone doors then began to slowly open, and I realized the flames around me were dying out.

"That was so cool!" Avery and Asuna shouted as we were finally able to relax.

"I don't know what I did, it just happened." I replied.

"So can you like do that whenever you want then?" Avery asked as we headed towards the now open doors.

"I dunno. Not sure if it is a skill or just a scripted event." I told her.

I opened up my menu to look through my skills as we approached the now open massive stone doors. I looked up from my menu to peer through the new opening, on the other side were red carpeted stairs that lead up to a bright light hanging at the end of the staircase. I looked back down at my menu as we began ascending the staircase.

"We just fought for… Wow. an hour and a half, and now we have to walk up stairs? I just want to get back to town and sleep. And eat." Avery complained.

"We fought for that long?" Asuna asked.

"Well it has been that long since we got into the tunnel anyway." Avery replied.

I listened to them talk more about random things as I continued searching my skills menu. Nothing looked out of place, but I had plenty of skills and if I had got a new one it could be anywhere in my list.

"I don't see a new skill or anything. I didn't get a notification like I normally would. Guess it was just a scripted thing." I told them.

"Oh that sucks. It would be pretty cool if you could just become encased in fire whenever you wanted." Avery responded excitedly.

"Yeah it would, but that'd be kinda like magic and there isn't any magic in this game." Asuna pointed out.

"And Kayaba made a big deal about there being no magic in this game." I added.

The light at the top of the staircase grew brighter as we approached the top of the stairs. My own curiosity growing as I thought about what could be at the top of these long, tiring stairs. We reached the top, white light momentarily obstructing my view before my eyes adjusted from the darkness of the stairs. It was a plain room, bright and empty except for a large, extremely decorative throne covered in gold and precious stones, red velvet covering the seat, and perched on the seat was a woman that resembled the statues from the hall downstairs. Her face and body were cloaked by her large, loose garments, and it seemed like she hadn't noticed our presence.

"Welcome." Her voice boomed out across the room, catching me off guard. "I am Lady Paldia, ruler of this once great kingdom, Mother of Dragons."

"Wow, Mother of Dragons? That's pretty cool." I said.

"As you can see, my Kingdom is no longer that. It sunk into the sands long ago, the day we all took our Dragon-like bodies as greater than the Dragons themselves. They took our home and swallowed it in sand to show us how wrong we were." The woman spoke. "But not all was lost, if the Great Dragon was slain, by the Slayer who found us, we would return our Kingdom to the world."

"Jeez, talk about weird." Avery mumbled under her breath.

"You have found us, our time draws near, and for that we thank you. Take the gifts of the Dragons. The teeth, the wings, the scales, and the flame." She announced.

At that moment we all got notifications as our inventories were updated. In front of me, my screen read Dragon Scales, a pair of unique gauntlets. I could tell Avery and Asuna got things similar in power and rarity based on their ecstatic reactions. I was also notified of a new skill.

"Woah, no way." I said excitedly as I realized what it was.

"What is it?" Asuna and Avery asked.

"Dragon Form, assume the aspect of a Dragon's flames. That has to be the thing that happened to me earlier!" I shouted eagerly.

"What!?"

"Oh my god! That's so awesome!" Avery exclaimed.

"Now begone, fulfill your duty as Dragon Slayer."

As the Princess said this, our bodies began to glow and the world turned white. The bright light faded and we were standing in the square of the town we stayed in last night. It was dark out and no one was around.

"Let's check out the cool stuff we got!" Avery suggested, barely containing her excitement.

"After we get a room." Asuna retorted.

"What? Yeah, of course."

"Well? What did you get Brandon? I wanna see!" Avery asked, uncontrollably jumping around.

"Well I got these." I replied, equipping my new gauntlets.

As they appeared on my arms, I didn't immediately recognize what was so special about them. I inspected them over Avery's "ooo's" and "ahh's" and Asuna's quiet looks. The gauntlets had many triangle shaped, interlocking pieces of metal. I thought they were decorational, but when I flexed my hands, the metal on the back of the gauntlets extended at an angle, each piece with a slot between them.

"Hm, let's see the description. Interlocking "Dragon Scales" used to… disarm enemies? Sounds interesting." I read aloud.

"Well the slots are spaced enough for a sword to fit in between them. Let's see how it works." Asuna said, equipping her sword, a new one in fact. "This is what I got, the Dragon's Teeth."

I stood up from the floor where we had been sitting and faced Asuna, ready to try out my new gear. She smiled at me and then swung her sword from her right to left. I lifted my left arm so her swing would go with the angle of the scales. Her sword made contact with my arm and slid across the surface of one of the scales before getting caught between the two different scales. I instantly twisted my arm, wrenching the blade from Asuna's hand and sending it clattering to the floor.

"Wow! That was so awesome! And that is a pretty nice sword, or rapier rather, Asuna." Avery commented.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have swung it like that, could've broken it." Asuna responded, grabbing the weapon off the ground.

"Hey you haven't showed us what you got yet Avery." I pointed out.

Avery's face immediately flushed red as I said this to her.

"What's that look for?" Asuna asked, turning towards her.

"Well, um, it's embarrassing." Avery replied quietly.

"C'mon! What could be so bad about it, show us!" I encouraged her.

Avery shifted uncomfortably and turned around. I saw her pull up her menu and look through her items. She began to glow as she equipped her new item, her armor changing. I noticed a change in her armor even from behind, it seemed, sparser.

"Do you guys have to look?" Avery asked shakily.

"Just a quick look." Asuna reassured her.

Avery turned around and I realized why she didn't want to show it off. Her new armor, if you could call it that, left very little to the imagination. It didn't even extend below her ribs, and the thin pieces of ornate metal barely covered any of her breasts. There was a lot of skin showing, only the most important parts covered by the decorative, leaf-like pieces of metal extending over her chest, leaving the very middle of her chest open to the world.

"Stop staring!" Avery shout, embarrassed.

"Well that certainly is a… look." I told her, averting my gaze. "I don't get what is so embarrassing about it Ave, You don't want to walk around looking like that?"

"Shut up. It's no fair you guys got cool stuff and I got the thing that makes me look like a prostitute." Avery said angrily.

"Well I think it looks- Nice on you." Asuna complimented her.

"Really?" Avery asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, I never knew you had such a nice figure." Asuna told her.

"Girls…"

"What do you think Brandon? Do you think this armor makes my figure look nice?"

I was taken aback by Avery's question, it wasn't like her at all and I wasn't sure how to respond.

"Uh I- Uh." I stammered, not looking back at Avery.

"I bet it would make me look good too, better than you." Asuna said with a smirk.

"Liar!" Avery shouted at her. "My body is better than yours!"

"Oh yeah? You sure?" Asuna questioned, her armor disappearing too.

I was petrified at this point, the girls were brawling on the floor half naked and I was standing here awkwardly, unsure of what to do. I started to quietly make my way out of the room, but wasn't successful.

"Stop!" They both shouted, stopping their wrestling match.

"You gotta say who has the better body." Avery shouted, her voice slightly muffled by Asuna's elbow in her throat.

"I'm not getting out of here alive, am I?" I asked myself, wondering why I always caught in the middle of things.

A/N This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written for any series. I'm back to writing now, hopefully you guys will start seeing more regular uploads for any of my stories, I'm starting to get back in my groove after a long time of not feeling like writing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to fav and follow if you want to stay up to date on this story or any of my stories.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sword Art Online - Reforged**

 _Ch. 6 - Dragonslaying_

 _ **~~~Brandon~~~**_

We were a quarter of the way through this death game, well, about to be a quarter of the way through. We were on Floor 25 and had a boss raid planned tomorrow afternoon. Most people were paranoid about it, they were thinking that the quarter mark would have some super-boss, I was one of those people. I hadn't forgotten what Lady Paldia had told me a few floors ago, that I had to kill a Dragon to complete the quest for good, and that worried me. I felt that the ensuing battle would depend on how I performed, and I preferred not to reveal my unique skill unless I absolutely needed to, I didn't need the extra attention, I already had more than I cared for.

"Hey Brandon, what d'ya think the next boss will be?" Avery asked me from across the room.

Avery was laying on her back across her couch, head hanging over an armrest, looking at me. One of her legs was drawn up, I could see the top of her knee over her upside-down face as I looked up from her table at her. We were in Avery's house tonight, as we were often, Asuna had withdrawn herself slightly over the past couple weeks and Avery and I didn't really have anyone else. I looked back down at the boss room layout that was drawn on a piece of paper on the table before me and then answered.

"I've told you already, I think it's gonna be a Dragon." I replied.

No one knew what the boss was yet because everyone was worried about entering the boss room in just a recon squad, people were extremely paranoid about this boss.

"Nah c'mon, that's lame. It has to be something cooler than that." She said, shooting down my flippant answer.

"Hmm, let's see then. Maybe a… What are you doing?" I asked her, movement catching my eye.

Avery's feet were flailing in the air as I was responding to her rude interjection. It was as if she was riding an invisible bicycle, her sockless feet pedaling at an astonishingly slow pace. She didn't respond at first, just kept moving her feet back and forth through the air. I was confused by her actions, and it didn't seem like she was going to answer me. She was looking up at her feet now, watching as she moved them through the air. It was odd to say the least, it caught me off guard for sure.

"Avery?" I said, trying to get her attention.

"What?" She replied instantly, her feet freezing in the air and her eyes snapping onto mine.

"Nothing, you're just being weird." I told her. "What were we talking about?"

"I dunno, you were over there being all serious and shit." Avery said coyly, dropping her feet back to the couch and flipping over onto her stomach, her chin resting on the armrest of the couch.

"Well I'm sorry I am trying to prepare for something so we won't die tomorrow." I shot back.

"Jeez, how about you take it easy every once in a while." Avery muttered.

My ear twitched in annoyance as I barely heard her say that. Avery was acting a bit strangely as of late, mood swings and clinginess I hadn't seen before, and I couldn't figure out why, and that bugged me.

"Y'know, you never said who you thought had a better body a couple weeks ago." Avery casually said, referring to the night we faced the Dragon Knights.

"Alright, I'm going home." I told her, packing up my things from the table.

"No stay."

Avery had a strange expression on her face, one I hadn't seen before, and I had seen almost all her expressions from the amount of time I had spent with her outside of SAO. I was cautious about her suddenly bizarre behavior, I wasn't sure what exactly was going on with her at the moment.

"Well it's getting late anyway, I think I should head home." I told her, standing up from the table.

"No wait!" Avery exclaimed, shooting up into a kneeling position on the couch.

"Jeez! Put some clothes on before you do that!" I warned her, averting my gaze as I saw she was wearing only her underwear.

"Brandon!" Avery called out as I walked past her and to her front door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I told her awkwardly as I walked out the door.

I could see her face flush red momentarily before I closed the door and hurried down her front steps. I was greeted by the cool night air as I walked the empty streets of the city on floor 22. Avery had been acting strangely the last few days, and I was beginning to think it was because of me. Perhaps she had a crush on me now, after all these years.

That thought made me smile, and as I smiled, I looked up just in time to see a person's form as we walked right into each other. I took their forehead right into my nose, making me reel backward in pain, and I apparently hit them hard enough to knock them to the ground.

"God dammit!" I cursed, clutching my nose. "I'm sorry, you okay?"

"Yeah, you're a brick wall though." They said as I helped them to their feet.

"Wait a second… Kirito?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Brandon." Kirito said quietly, he seemed a little annoyed.

"Everything okay? I haven't seen you in a while. You skipped out on the last few boss battles." I questioned.

"Well I kinda joined a guild a little bit ago." He replied, scratching the back of his head.

"You- joined a guild?!" I laughed.

"Well - Yeah I did. I guess in a way I felt… like I had to. I saved them once and I felt the need to protect them." Kirito admitted.

"Yeah that makes sense. That's pretty cool of you. Was joining their guild needed to protect them? I mean if you have them friended you can check up on them whenever you want." I asked him.

"I felt it necessary to keep them as close as possible. They are great friends and I enjoy the guild." Kirito said as he began to walk away.

"Well I'm glad to see you found a place to call home. I guess I'll see you around then." I called out to him as he disappeared around the corner.

"Damn, people are acting so strange lately." I said to myself as I continued my walk home.

The streets were silent as I walked through them. My walk wasn't long, but it gave me time to think. I usually thought of the real world on these walks, something I never really did during the day. Everything here was so real that I often forgot it was a game some days. I missed my parents though, and everyone else back home. I wanted to see them all again. At the same time, this world was pretty awesome, aside from the fact we were trapped here and if we die then we die in real life. It was beautiful here, and the life I lived made me feel more alive than in the real world. Not that my life sucked before, it was quite the opposite, but I enjoyed the challenge of this life and the relationships I had built to survive. I also enjoyed learning new things about this world and about the people and creatures inside of it. It was just as complex and intricate as the real world.

I finally reached my house and entered, ready for some much-needed sleep. I stripped down and got ready to get into bed, reaching my bedroom door and opening it. I nearly had a heart attack when I opened my door and saw Asuna sitting on my bed.

"What the…? What are you doing in my bedroom?" I shouted, embarrassed.

"I needed to talk to you." She responded calmly, her eyes flicking down my body then back up to my face.

"How'd you even get in here?" I asked as I scrambled to equip some clothes.

"I payed some of the down payment, so technically I own it too." Asuna reminded me, I did the same with hers and Avery's places just in case I ever needed to get in, but I had completely forgotten.

"How about next time you need to talk you tell me in advance or at least let me know you'll be in my bedroom." I suggested angrily.

"It couldn't wait, I'm sorry." She said seriously.

"So, what was so important that you needed to break into my room to tell me?" I asked her, slightly annoyed.

"Well, I can't be certain, but I have a horrible feeling something is going to go terribly wrong tomorrow." Asuna explained, folding her hands in an awkward position in front of her stomach.

"You broke into my house to tell me something everyone knows? Of course tomorrow is gonna go to shit! Everyone is super freaked out by this boss battle and totally not prepared!" I replied, raising my voice at her.

"No! That's not… I didn't mean… I meant specifically… One of us." Asuna murmured, again moving her hands awkwardly around.

"Asuna… I'd never let anything happen to you, or Avery. I know you'd do the same for each of us. We are three of the strongest players in this game. There's no way we are going out this early." I told her, each of my hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes as I spoke.

"Thank you, Brandon, that means so much to me." She sniffed and started to cry.

Asuna broke towards me and buried her face in my shoulder as she started to cry. She held tightly onto the front of my shirt, and I wrapped my arms around her, embracing her. She cried into my shirt and I just held her, gently rubbing her back and neck as I consoled her.

"You feeling better now?" I asked after a minute or two of crying.

"Just a little. Is it- can I stay for tonight?" Asuna stammered.

"Uh…" I was caught off guard by Asuna's uncharacteristic question. "Couch is open."

"Thanks Brandon." Asuna said, smiling and wiping a tear off her cheek.

Asuna turned to leave but stopped suddenly. She quickly turned back and went up on her tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the cheek before rushing out of my bedroom. I rubbed my cheek where Asuna kissed me softly, unsure whether or not it actually happened. Now I was even more confused, this night was certainly strange to say the least, and it didn't help calm me for the fight tomorrow.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked myself as I got into bed and turned off the light.

 _ **~~~Asuna~~~  
**_ _  
_

"Ah shit! Forgot you were here." Brandon yelped in sudden remembrance.

I was woken very abruptly by his sudden shout of surprise, woken just suddenly enough to scare me and make me jump from the couch before I fell off. Brandon's face flushed red as I jumped up to my feet and he quickly turned away from me. I looked down and remembered I was in my underwear. I yelped in surprise and embarrassment, covering myself with the blanket that was draped around my feet.

"I'm good now." I squeaked in embarrassment, equipping some real clothes.

"You sure? Okay, good. Sorry about that, totally forgot you were here. I didn't sleep very well last night so that might be why I forgot." Brandon explained, reaching back and scratching the back of his head.

"It's alright. I'm the guest here. How about I make breakfast?" I offered as I put the blanket back on the couch.

"I couldn't let you do that, you're the guest." Brandon replied as he started towards the kitchen.

"I insist Brandon; besides, my cooking level is almost maxed out, I know I'm better than you." I teased him with the truth.

"Fine, go ahead then. I guess I'll go review the maps and polish my stuff then." Brandon said defeatedly.

"You should message Avery too, have her join us for breakfast." I suggested as I started prepping for breakfast.

"Eh?" Brandon called out. "She's been acting really weird lately, and I kinda got upset with her last night because of it."

"I thought you guys were like a- a thing?" I shouted back with a slight smile on my face.

"Uh what now? Who told you that?" He asked, storming back into his kitchen.

"No one told me, you guys just- are together all the time." I told him.

"Well that's because _somebody_ hasn't had time to stop by and spend time with their friends lately." He retorted.

"That's true, but you have other friends." I replied.

"Not really. You two are the only ones I trust completely." He admitted.

"Is that s-"

I was cut off by a knock at the door. Brandon looked at me and then back at the door before going to see who it was. I heard soft voices and then the door closing. Two sets of footsteps resounded in the adjacent room as they approached the kitchen.

"It smells good in here, were you making- oh, Asuna." Avery said as she came through the doorway into the kitchen.

"Hi Avery." I greeted her.

"Why are you here? Why is she here so early- and- and- in her-?" Avery stammered.

"What? I was just about to message you to come over Avery. Asuna came over to finish mapping out plans and fell asleep on the couch, calm down." Brandon explained.

"She- she slept-" Her voice disappeared as Brandon took her into the next room over.

I could hear their whispering just barely, only catching a few words every now and then.

"Not like that… down… why would…?" I heard Brandon say in a hushed voice.

"I don't… what did I do… no I…"

"I didn't sleep with… we're all friends… deep breathe, ok?"

"Ok I-I'm- sorry, I guess I was just mad because you stormed out last night and then I saw her already here with you." Avery said, now calm as they re-entered the kitchen.

"Neither of us would ever abandon you Avery, we were doing work, since y'know, you didn't want to do any last night." Brandon told her.

I was glad Brandon had lied about it, I didn't trust anyone else to know about how weak I actually was. Not even Avery. I was hoping he could keep it secret and he is. I feel a bit guilty because he lied to Avery though, I know how close they are.

"Feeling better now?" I asked Avery, finishing up breakfast.

"Sure." She replied despondently.

Breakfast was rather simple, toast, bacon, and eggs. Enough to get us all energized for the fight later today without it being too harsh on our stomachs. We ate in relative silence, exchanging a bit of small talk every now and then. I noticed Avery seemed tense throughout the meal, and she rarely looked up the entire time except to glance at Brandon out of the corner of her eye.

"Alright, you guys ready to get this thing done?" Brandon asked, standing from the table.

Brandon asked us this question looking uneasy and nervous, but he spoke with confidence. I could see the strain in his face and he moved stiffly.

"As ready as I think I can be." I told him.

"Sure." Avery said distantly.

I cast her a sideways glance, not understanding why she was still upset. I was contemplating the possible reasons as we left Brandon's house and started heading towards the teleporter in the city square. I realized the answer was quite simple after we had teleported to floor 25 and we were well on our way to the dungeon where we were meeting up with the raid party. In fact it was so simple, I was kicking myself for overlooking it originally, Avery had a crush on Brandon, or so it appeared to me.

I looked over at Brandon, his jaw was clenched tightly, like he was annoyed. He didn't look it though, his gray eyes burned with determination already, I knew in my heart that no matter what happened today, we would make it. I looked from Brandon's face to Avery's, she was also staring at Brandon from the corner of her eye. She noticed me looking at her and looked quickly the other way, staring at the dirt on the trail.

I smiled to myself a bit, I was right.

The walk was largely boring and uneventful other than that brief moment when all my questions were answered by my quick observations. We weren't troubled by any trash mobs, a sign that other people had already arrived at the meeting place just outside the dungeon. The boss lair wasn't far from the entrance, some people said this was intentionally done to showcase the difficulty of the upcoming fight, I was among those people.

Quite a few people had already gathered outside the dungeon, nervously waiting for everyone to arrive. Much of the force was already there, they were just waiting for our guild mainly, and one or two small guilds.

"How you guys feeling?" Brandon asked us.

"A little nervous." I told him.

"Me too." Avery answered, her mood seeming to be lifted.

"It's good to be a little nervous I think, but don't get to nervous, 'cause then you overthink things." Brandon said somewhat cheerily, he seemed excited, if he was worried at all it didn't show at all.

We waited with the force for about another half hour before someone gave the order to move out. There would be no more turning back now, no running away without penalty. Every time we made these long walks it was do or die, if we failed, then everyone else would have little to no chance of ever beating this game. It was a long walk through the dungeon, a walk that built anticipation with every single step and you could feel people's anxiety seeping into the air around them.

I looked over at Avery, whose face was drawn almost into a scowl, her brow knit tightly together, the cords of her slim neck strained. She looked like she would explode if someone touched her she was so tense. Brandon, on the other hand, had an outward demeanor of a small child, he seemed almost giddy with excitement, as was usual when he was expecting a fight. His gray eyes were bright with expectation, the corners of his mouth were curled slightly upward into a smirk.

However, upon closer consideration, I could see small details that betrayed what he was trying to portray. There was a single, small drop of sweat on the corner of his right brow, only noticeable if the light caught it right. Every so often, a vein in his neck twitched, and he was playing with the mail that hung below his armor, just scraping two of the chains against one another with his fingers.

"We're almost there, I can see the door." Brandon said loudly.

 _ **~~~Brandon~~~**_

I had a strange feeling in my stomach, one that had been building with the trek to the boss room. It wasn't a feeling I could easily explain, it was like a mix of anxiety, excitement, fear, and a massive shot of adrenaline all at once. It created an odd sense of calmness in me. Whatever was about to happen, it wasn't going to be good.

I caught Asuna staring at me, I knew she knew I was worried, even though I was doing my best to show otherwise. I was trying to show calmness and bravery in the face of my men, how would it look if one of their commanding officers looked terrified? Asuna was portraying the same outward appearance as me, but I saw right through her, her eyes deceived her. She looked weak and fragile beneath her strong posture and expressions, but only I could tell.

"We're almost there, I can see the door." I told them.

My voice was projected further it would've under normal circumstances because of the tension in the group and the silence we walked in to the boss room. My voice reverberated through the hall a few times, a constant reminder to everyone with us that the time was almost upon us.

The people in front of us began to slow, so the three of us pushed our way towards the front of the pack. We had about 60 players that signed on from the assault team, almost half from our guild, I spotted Klein and his guild among the players as we moved towards the front. We reached the door, where Heathcliff was standing in front of the massive stone boss doors. He turned to look at us as we approached the doors.

"Would you like the honors, Brandon? You look rather excited for this battle." He commented.

"Are you not? This is a huge occasion, I think we should all be excited for this fight." I replied calmly.

"I am most certainly prepared for this fight, not necessarily excited for a possibly bloody battle." He responded.

"I understand, but after this we are a quarter of the way done, and that is exciting." I told him.

"I suppose, we will have to see how the next three quarters treats us. The door now, Brandon?"

"Of course." I said, stepping up to the massive doors.

I looked over my shoulder at all the people gathered in front of the doors, they all drew their respective weapons, filling the hall with the sound of metal scraping against metal and loud bangs. I looked back at the door and placed my palm flat against it and the group behind me roared a loud battle cry, whooping and cheering and bashing their swords against their shields or their fists against their chests. I took a deep breath as they continued to shout and pushed against the doors. They began to swing inward automatically, and bright, white light blinded me. I shielded my eyes from the light, I was hit with a light, cool breeze as I stood in the entrance. As my vision returned, I could see the boss room was not a room at all. I took a step into a lush green meadow filled with tall grasses, flowers, and a few oak trees. Not too far before me was the starting slope of a massive mountain that stretched above the clouds. It was a daunting image, the mountain, it made me uneasy as I stepped further into the meadow. The grasses stretched up the mountain a bit before it turned to craggy rocks and then became snow covered even higher up. I stood in the meadow, breeze brushing against me, the warm, bright sun on my face, staring up at the dark clouds that circled the mountain. The rest of the team entered, just as uneasy as me as they noticed their surroundings.

As the last man entered the meadow, the door slammed shut behind us and disappeared, leaving us stranded in the meadow.

"It's so beautiful." Avery said as she stepped up next to me.

"You don't feel anything off about this place?" I asked her.

"Of course I do you moron, I meant other than that feeling, it is really pretty." She replied lightheartedly.

We all stood in silence for a few more moments, uncertain of what was supposed to happen.

"I guess up the m-"

Whoever was speaking was cut off by an impossibly loud and savage roar, one that made my bones quake and the earth beneath my feet shake. The dark clouds that encircled the mountain spread to the rest of the sky, blotting out the sun and casting an eerie shadow over the land. The leaves on the trees curled up and fell to the ground, the grass turned brown and shrunk. The flowers crumbled to dust and we were now standing in a wasteland. I felt raindrops on my face as a gloomy rain fell from the clouds above.

There was another bone chattering roar in the clouds above, then a flash of light and a deafening clap of thunder, making many people cover their ears in pain.

"Everyone run!" I heard Asuna shout, sprinting away from me.

I stared at the mountain in confusion, then looked up at the dark sky. I looked up at the sky to see a massive, terrifying form hurtling towards the ground. I was rooted to the spot as the being sped towards the earth. I could hear people shouting at me as I remained unmoving. I removed my sword from the sheathe on my back, swinging it down to my side, staring up at the sky the whole time.

"Brandon no!" I heard Avery shout from a distance.

"I have to." I muttered, not loud enough for anyone to hear, but people saw me speak and understood.

The dragon landed heavily on the ground in front of me, knocking me to the ground as the earth shook violently. I got to my feet uneasily, looking at the massive black beast. Its scales were impossibly dark, darker even than the night itself, yet the scales shone like polished steel. It stood many stories, and must've weighed many tons. There was no doubt it could easily kill all of us if it wanted to. It stood on all fours and spread its black, leathery wings as it stared at me. The dragon's back was covered with massive spikes that protruded from its body, as well as two of these spikes on the crest of its massive head. Its teeth were sharper than my sword, as well as its claws. It also had a long club-like tail. Every part of this dragon was designed to kill, every part as equally dangerous, and here I was, a tiny human standing alone before this ferocious, terrifying beast. Its multiple health bars appeared above its head, as well as its name. _The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Azazel_.

The dragon stared at me with hungry, blood red eyes, its inner eyelid opening and closing several times. The dragon folded its wings into its body and snorted, black smoke wafting from its nostrils.

I stood face to face with this dragon for what seemed like an eternity, just staring as it switched which eye it would peer at me with, turning its massive head slowly. The dragon bared its fangs at me and let out a low growl that sent a chill down my spine. I didn't know how I would deal with this dragon.

The dragon reared its head back before it shot forward, snapping its massive jaws at me. I dove to the side, rolling around the side of its head, springing up and swinging at its massive neck. My sword caught the dragon on the neck and bounced off its scales, jarring my arm as I almost fell backwards. I did do damage however, I saw its health deplete a little as I struck.

My blow seemed to only annoy he dragon if it affected it at all. It swept its head to the side, catching my body with its neck and sending me flying. I landed on my back and rolled backwards up into my stance. In the time it took me to stand, the dragon had swung its tail at me and jumped back and narrowly avoided its spiked tail. I charged at the base of the dragon's tail, reaching it and driving my sword up into the fleshy part where its tail met its underbelly. The dragon roared in pain and spun around, but I had already pulled my sword out of its rear and dove beneath its swinging tail and talons. I rolled underneath its belly and slashed at its stomach, barely avoiding the dragon as it dropped onto its stomach to protect its soft belly. I used this to my advantage, jumping onto its foreleg and using it as a platform to reach its back.

It was at this point I realized other people had joined in the fight, throwing spears at the dragon and slashing at it tail and head as I climbed its back. The dragon roared and swung its tail, sending nearly a dozen people flying, a couple catching an oak tree and exploding into bright, colorful shards of light. The dragon snapped its jaws at a man near its neck, picking him up in its massive jaws and swallowing him whole. I clung to one of the dragons back spikes as it thrashed around and killed people easily. I was almost thrown off the dragon as it reared its head back loosed a scorching hot jet of flames onto the people in front of it, killing the few people unable to protect themselves in time.

I needed to stabilize myself as I tried climbing the dragon, so I jammed my sword between two of its scales, burying it in the soft flesh beneath the two scales. The dragon roared and flailed in agony as it tried to shake me off. It spun with such ferocity it flung me off its back, leaving my sword in its back as I went flying.

I hit the ground hard and slid and tumbled several feet, dazed. I sat up, trying to regain my bearings when I saw a wall of red flames approaching me. I put my hand in front of my face as the fames raced towards me and engulfed me, blotting my vision. Then I could see again, the flames still there as the wrapped around my body, everybody stopping and staring as I rose from the ground cloaked in dragon fire, even the dragon looked on in interest.

"I'm not scared of you!" I screamed. "I'm a dragonslayer."

Then I charged at the dragon, equipping a lance that I owned and throwing it at the dragon as hard as I could. It hit the dragon with enough force to crack one of its scales on it nose and bury itself there, making the dragon throw its head back in pain. I continued sprinting at it and once again jumped of its foreleg onto its back, grabbing the hilt of my sword that was buried in its back. I pulled my sword from its body and climbing up its thrashing neck.

The black dragon snapped its jaws at a few more people then spread its massive wings and leaped into the sky with me clinging onto one of its spikes. It soared into the sky, gaining more and more altitude. That was when I saw that the dragon had one health bar left, in the yellowish green, about two thirds of the bar left. The air around me grew colder and colder as we ascended higher into the sky. I stuck my sword between its scales again, making the dragon throw its head around as it tried to throw me off. I used my sword to climb slowly off its neck as the dragon twirled and spun and thrashed about, trying to free itself of me. The whole time my dragon fire never exstinguishing.

I was near the base of the dragon's skull now, almost where I needed to be to drive home what would hopefully be the killing blow. As I was about to reach its skull, the dragon tucked in its wings and began rocketing towards the ground. The wind resistance was much that I could feel my iron grip start to falter as we headed towards the ground. I gripped the hilt of my sword with both hands, my sword caught fire from my body and burned the dragon, burning so hot it began to melt the scales around my sword. I wasn't aware of it, but I was letting loose a violent shout the whole time, driving my sword further into its neck as the scales melted. The dragon pulled up in time before we hit the ground, violently flailing about in the air. I grabbed ahold of one of its neck spikes and pulled my sword from the deep wound in its neck, and with all my strength, pulled myself forward up to its head and drove my sword through the dragon's skull. I went flying from the dragon as my flaming sword buried itself in the dragon's head. I fell dozens of feet until I smacked into the ground, people all around shouting. My health bar was as red as the dragon's eyes, nearly empty.

I heard the dragon roaring and thrashing about, then it crashed into the ground and loosed one more deafening roar before going quiet.

I laid on the ground, unable to breath. People were cheering, I could hear people talking to me, but I couldn't comprehend what they were saying. I was turned onto my back, I was surrounded by Avery, Asuna, Klein, Heathcliff, and Agil. Avery was crying, Agil and Klein were laughing, Asuna looked worried sick. I could see their mouths moving, but I couldn't hear a thing, I just smiled up at the clearing sky and the sunlight that broke through and bathed my face in a warm glow.

Avery threw herself on top of me and buried her face in my armor. I could hear things now, Avery's quiet crying and everybody's cheering.

"That doesn't look comfortable Avery. My armor is pretty hard." I said in a strained voice.

"You're really stupid, you know that? You could've died! Then I would've… would've…" Avery clamored, babbling incoherently for a while.

"Glad to see the rest of you are ok too." I told the people gathered around me.

"That was impressive." Agil commended me.

"More like crazy awesome! Dude, you were totally on fire!" Klein shouted excitedly.

"Yes, it was quite an impressive feat." Heathcliff told me.

"Do me a favor?" Asuna asked. "Never do something that crazy again, ok?"

"We both know I can't promise that Asuna." I told her, it was hard to breath still.

Asuna smiled at me and nodded, a tear running down her cheek. She wiped it away and looked up at the sky and let out a big sigh.

"We are a quarter of the way done. You did it Brandon." Asuna said quietly.

"We did it. How many people did we lose?" I asked breathlessly.

"Twenty-four." Heathcliff informed me.

"Too many." I replied quietly.

I moved my arms to try and sit up, but I got cut off.

"Don't move." Avery pleaded. Her voice barely audible as she spoke into my armor.

"Okay, don't think I'd be able to even if I tried." I groaned.

The others left us alone, I needed time to regain my bearings. My hand rested on Avery's back, and I was absentmindedly stroking the ends of her blonde hair. She looked up from my chest, her amber eyes gleamed because they were filled with tears, and she smiled at me.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Avery told me.

"Me too. Someone's gotta pick up the slack around here." I joked, my breathing starting to return to normal.

"Ha ha." She replied, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Here, this might be more comfortable." I said to Avery, opening my menu and unequipping my armor, her head falling softly onto my chest.

Avery smiled even brighter, her tears wetting my shirt as she nestled against my chest.

"Brandon, I- I need to- I have to- I… Uh.' Avery stammered.

I smiled at her cute stuttering, her hand was also nervously twisting my shirt around and around. I brought my hand up from her back and wiped the tears off her cheeks and held her face with one hand.

"It's okay, I know." I told her.

Avery giggled and then burst into tears once again.

"God, maybe if you weren't such a crybaby I'd consider…'

"Shut up." Avery laughed, lightly tapping my chest playfully.

"I know, only a joke." I told her.

It grew quiet once again, most everyone already gone. I saw Asuna standing alone, leaned against one of the oak trees staring off at the gently rolling hills in the distance.

"Can we stay like this forever?" Avery asked, her hand tracing circles on my stomach.

"We'll stay as long as you want." I told her.

"Promise me something, Brandon."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Don't you ever die on me, okay?"

"Promise not to die on me too?" I asked.

"Yes." She replied. "Now your turn."

"I promise."

 _ **A/N What is this like 4 months later? I'm really sorry about the ridiculously long wait everyone, I had so much going on with school, sports, scholarships, testing, some of you know what senior year is like. Anyway, I got this out for you all before I went on vacation, so I hope you enjoyed! The wait for chapter 7 shouldn't be nearly as long.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Sword Art Online - Reforged**

Ch. 7 – Instability

 ** _~~~Asuna~~~_**

It had been several days since I last spoke to Brandon and Avery, a couple weeks since they last reported for duty, and a couple floors. They were off in their own little world, lost in their own happiness. They had stopped fighting since we cleared floor 25, Heathcliff didn't discipline them for not doing their jobs, his explanation for it was they deserved a break. I guess that is fair, Brandon did kill a boss by himself and Avery was an emotional wreck only hours before that happened.

However, we needed them. Brandon was undoubtedly the best player in the game at the moment, and Avery kept all the men in order on a daily basis, without them, our guild would slowly fall apart.

"Asuna! Are you listening?" Heathcliff shouted.

"Huh? Oh, yes sir."

"Ok, well then go." He told me.

I stood in the council chamber, alone now, as the rest of the members filed out, some of them shaking their heads at me as they exited the room.

Truth was, I was scared. For the first time since this game started, I felt alone. Brandon and Avery were off somewhere, blinded by their new-found love. I had no one, not like they had each other. I thought it would be great now that they were together and happy, and I was happy they were happy, but I also longed for their company again. Avery and I were so much alike, and Brandon always knew how to keep people's heads up, and how to spread hope in their hearts. I wish I had someone like they had each other, so that way all of us could be happy together. I needed to focus, without them I had to be strong by myself, no matter what.

That was easier said than done, not only was I alone, but the holidays were just around the corner. I was afraid of being alone on Christmas day.

I hadn't been listening to what Heathcliff had been saying to me, so I decided to do what I was going to do before he summoned all on-duty officers, which was go take a nap, then probably grind by myself for a few hours.

Yay, fun… Being alone sucks.

I walked out from the council room and headed towards the plaza so I could teleport to my house, or someone else's. I could stop by Brandon's or Avery's, see what they're up to. I checked my friends list and saw that they were both at Brandon's house on my map. I decided I'd check up on them, remind them that they need to get back into the game at some point, maybe see if they want to go hunting with me, or maybe… I wasn't really sure, I just really didn't want to be alone right now.

Before I knew it, I was walking up the stairs to Brandon's house. I went to let myself in then reconsidered and knocked on the door. I heard a muffled shout, some giggling from Avery and loud crashes as Brandon was probably clumsily coming to the door.

"Stop Ave!" I heard him through the door, laughing. "I don't care, put it on then."

The door opened and I was greeted by the sight of a shirtless Brandon, hair messy, and a big grin on his face.

"Hey Asuna! Come in." He said, unnecessarily loud.

"Thanks." I replied awkwardly, stepping into his living room.

"Ave! It's Asuna!" Brandon shouted.

"Duh! Who else would it be?" I heard her call back from somewhere else. "One sec!"

"Sorry, she's probably, uh, doing girl stuff y'know?" Brandon said, scratching the back of his head.

"Sure."

"Okie! Hi Asuna!" Avery beamed at me.

She was wearing what appeared to be Brandon's missing shirt. It was comically big for her tiny body, the shirt reaching to her knees, but she still looked cute as always.

"We haven't seen you in a while." Avery said as she jumped onto the couch.

"Watch it!" Brandon scolded her, which earned him a stuck-out tongue from Avery.

"More like no one has seen you guys lately." I replied.

Brandon and Avery looked at each other and laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, we're sorry about that. Just went through a lot these past couple weeks." Brandon explained.

"No, I'm not saying you don't need a bit of a break. Just got kinda bored without you guys." I told them.

"Awe, Onee-chan missed us!" Avery said in a baby voice.

Hearing her refer to me as sister made me smile, they didn't forget about me. I could feel a gentle warmth spread through my chest, they made me happy without fail.

"We'd never forget about you Asuna, you mean too much to us. Things are a little different know, but I promise we won't leave you behind. Okay?" Brandon said.

I looked up at him and nodded, I knew I had a stupid smile on my face and I was about to cry but I didn't care. I hugged Brandon tightly and then stepped back, I didn't want to somehow make Avery mad. They both gave me smiles as I smoothed out my clothes and looked between them.

"Um… I guess I'll go, didn't mean to interrupt your… uh, y'know." I said awkwardly.

I saw Avery's face immediately turn red and she looked like she might explode from embarrassment. Brandon looked at me quizzically for a moment before he figured out what I was saying.

"Wha-? No, you've got it wrong. We had just woken up when you came. We weren't, ah, yeah." Brandon replied, running his hand through his hair.

"You can stay Asuna, you didn't interrupt anything, and you wouldn't have if you showed up any other time." Avery told me timidly.

"Yeah, 'cause if we had..."

Brandon was interrupted by a pillow hitting him scare in the face, making him stumble as it caught him by surprise.

"Shut up you big goof." Avery scolded him.

"Yes ma'am."

"Don't listen to him Asuna, we haven't done anything like _that_." Avery explained.

"Okay? I didn't ask." I said, feeling embarrassed.

"Eh? Oh, sorry. Probably shouldn't talk about these things. I forget people here aren't as open as Americans." Avery said in realization.

"More like just loud and obnoxious." I teased.

"You got that one spot one!" Brandon shouted, striking a ridiculous pose. "We love to be loud because it represents our freedom!"

"I don't get you Americans; a lot of other nations are free too." I told him, shaking my head and unable to stifle my laughter.

"Yeah, but America does it like, best, y'know?" Brandon responded.

"That's a subjective claim." I laughed.

Brandon shrugged and Avery laughed with me. It wasn't really all that funny, our exchange, but I couldn't help but keep laughing, clutching my stomach and supporting myself on the couch as I tipped forward. Avery was also laughing uncontrollably on the couch, gasping for breath between her laughs. We were so ridiculous even Brandon started laughing with us, although not as wildly.

"I can't…! Why are you guys laughing?" Brandon managed to say.

"Why not?" Avery replied, getting ahold of herself again.

"I was only laughing because your laughs are so ridiculous." Brandon told us. "I think I heard you snorting Asuna."

"I did not!" I giggled, slapping at Brandon playfully.

He hopped away from my hand but I pursued him. He danced away from gentle strikes, he had a huge smile on his face, and I knew I did too. I saw Avery circling around him and she jumped on his back, knocking him forward into me. I stumbled backwards and regained my balance before I fell. Brandon was trying to grab Avery from his back, eventually succeeding, grabbing her and pulling her over his shoulder fireman style, her head in his stomach.

"That's enough ladies." He said, grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder as well, my face in his back.

I screamed as he grabbed and carried me, laughing all the while with Avery. He laid me down on the couch and carried Avery with him into the kitchen, she was still squealing and laughing the whole time.

"Put me down! I'm starting to get dizzy!" Avery shouted, slapping at his stomach.

They disappeared into the kitchen out of view, Avery's laughter being suddenly cut off, and I was stranded in a lonely silence. I stood up from the couch, straightening my clothes before heading towards the door.

"I'm heading out you guys, see you later." I shouted, once again being gripped by loneliness.

 ** _~~~Brandon~~~_**

"... see you later." I heard Asuna shout from the entryway.

Avery was sitting on the counter, our foreheads pressed together as we had just broke our kiss.

"Asuna! Wait!" I shouted, running to the front door and throwing it open.

Asuna was already gone from sight as I looked around for her. Avery quietly tiptoed up next to me, wrapping her arms around my waist as she peered out to the outside world with me.

"It's okay Brandon, let her be." Avery told me, pulling me back inside.

"I hope she's okay. Maybe we should go back to the guild soon? I think that might help her mood." I suggested.

"Okay, but not today." Avery said.

"Definitely not today." I affirmed.

As soon as I agreed with Avery, I got a message from Heathcliff.

"Well it's actually gonna have to be today." I said, disappointed, as I read Heathcliff's message. "We are being summoned to report for active duty immediately."

"Yup, I got one too." Avery informed me.

"Dammit. Let's at least eat breakfast first." I said to Avery, heading towards my kitchen.

I slowly pulled on my armor, making sure to take as much time as possible to get ready, hence why I was doing it manually. It felt good to be wearing my armor again. I pulled my mail over my head, it sat uncomfortably on my upper body and it took me awhile to get it straightened out before I could put on my guild colors, decorating myself with the stark white and bright red, capping off my guild garb with my long cloak cape that hung off my shoulders. Then I pulled on my gauntlets, turning my wrists a few times to make sure they were working and equipped properly, and then finally, I put my sword in its sheath that was strapped to my back.

I stepped out of my bedroom, Avery was waiting just in front of my front door, looking impatient. I strode towards her, attaching my officer insignia to my breastplate. I looked her up and down as she studied me intently.

"You look good in uniform." I told her.

"Thanks, you do too. Ready?"

I nodded in response and opened the door for her and followed her out into the streets and to the teleporter. We were in the guild hall in no time, making our ways through the unusually empty halls to the council room. We entered to see all of the officers and council members already gathered, about to head into the staging hall where we made guild-wide announcements.

"Good, you're here. Now we can begin the briefing." Heathcliff said, throwing open the doors and stepping out onto the balcony above the hall, overlooking the huge crowd that was our guild.

I looked at Avery, confused, and she gave me the same look back. I just shrugged and followed everyone out onto the balcony, finding my overly ornate seat to the right of Heathcliff's, Asuna sitting on the other side of him while Avery was up a few rows sitting with the officers. Once everyone was seated, Heathcliff rose from his seat and cleared his throat before speaking to everyone.

"Faithful knights." He began. "As most of you know, tensions have been building between our guild and the Aincrad Liberation Army over the past few days. This is because of the conditions they have forced on the people who live their everyday lives on the lower floors of the game. They steal, abuse, threaten, and now recently, kill the innocent people who live their lives waiting for the game to end. This is completely unacceptable, and violates the agreement the guilds made with The Army. This means only one thing, war."

The crowd erupted with angry shouts and wails, armor and swords clanged together as the people below exploded with outrage, either at The Army's actions or our own. I sat with a dazed, confused look on my face as I processed what Heathcliff was saying.

A War? This wasn't any regular guild war, because this was real, and lots of people would actually die. People trapped in this game, wanting only to return to the real world, who had nothing to do with anything, they were at risk because of this proposed war. They would also be at risk if we did nothing, since The Army was running rampant in the lower floors. Heathcliff was right, we had to do _something_. In reality, this was no different than issues that caused international conflicts in the real world, people were suffering and we needed to help them.

I went back and forth with myself, trying to justify a war, and then immediately refuting my own argument and changing my mind. I looked over at Asuna, her arms folded across her chest and her head tucked. Her eyes were closed and I could tell she was thinking hard about the situation at hand as well.

"I am placing Brandon in charge of the operations of this war. Not all of you will be joining him, however, only the most accomplished three hundred of us." Heathcliff announced, causing the hall to fall silent again.

"Get it, like that one movie." Dante chuckled, nudging me with his elbow.

"That was an actual thing that happened, and they all died." I shot at him, making him shut up.

"Dismissed!" Heathcliff shouted.

I sat in my chair, arms folded across my chest, brow furrowed. I was annoyed, scared, anxious. I mean, _war?!_ That is scary if it is real, and in this world, it was. I didn't want to lead these men into a fight against other men, have them die pointless deaths. A war may not even work, because the Army may very well just sit inside the town, invulnerable to anything we throw at them. This whole thing was stupid

"We don't need to do this." I told Heathcliff.

"Explain."

"It's pointless. The Army could just sit inside the Town of Beginnings, and the people living there can just teleport to other floors if they are tired of the way they are being treated." I told him.

"We must show the people of this world that tyranny will not be tolerated." Heathcliff defended himself.

"Bullshit, this is a show of power. Everyone here knows we are just barely ahead of the other guilds in terms of strength. People are beginnings to question our leadership. This… War, is your way to show everyone that we won't be laughed at." I shot back.

"You are very perceptive, Brandon. I remember why I recruited you now." He sighed.

"I won't lead these men, I won't be a part of the murder of our people, or theirs."

"Walk with me." Heathcliff ordered, beckoning me into the hall behind where our seats were.

I could feel the eyes of all the officers and council members on me as I got up and followed Heathcliff out of the Great Hall. They all looked quickly away from me when I returned their stares, even Asuna and Avery, who both looked scared.

I followed Heathcliff through the halls, waiting for him to speak.

"Do you remember the day we met, Brandon?" He asked me.

"Huh? Yeah?" I answered, caught off guard by his question.

"It was pure chance we ran into each other that day. I had been watching you for quite some time. I watched you fight in the boss battles and in the field. You had a keen sense of justice and loyalty for your friends." Heathcliff explained.

"What does this have to do with anything?" I questioned him.

"While it is true that the Army could stay in the Town of Beginnings, it is impossible for people to teleport out. They blockaded the town's teleporter and outer perimeter. There is no escape for the people there." Heathcliff told me.

"And?"

"While we cannot kill them while they are in the safe zone, we can still hurt them, beat them until they can't stand. That is what we will do. It is what you must do for those suffering people. The great part is, no one dies. Which I know appeals to your persona."

"You have any idea how difficult it is to incapacitate someone in a safe zone?" I asked him.

"Yes, which is why this mission will show our strength, and help the poor people who are living in fear."

I stopped walking, squinting my eyes in frustration as he turned to face me. He wasn't going to change his mind, nothing I could say or suggest could do that. He wanted to show the world how powerful we were.

"What if it doesn't work?" I asked.

"You mean what if you fail?"

"Y-yes."

"Well, you've never failed me before, but your insubordination may land you in a position that you no longer find favorable." He threatened.

"You get rid of me, this guild fails." I countered.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, I leave, Avery and Asuna are gone too." I told him.

"Ah yes, I see your point now. However, you owe me this one thing Brandon, because if I hadn't shown up and joined you three that day, you and your friends wouldn't be alive."

My jaw was clenched and I stared at the floor as he spoke to me. Somewhere inside me, I knew he was probably right, I did owe him a lot, I wouldn't be where I was without him.

"Fine, but don't ask me to put people in unnecessary danger again, okay?" I said, finally giving in to him.

"I believe that when you succeed that we will never have to do something like this ever again. So you have my word." Heathcliff swore, bowing his head slightly in acknowledgment.

I frowned at him and turned away, making my way back down the hall. I walked pass the entrance to Great Hall's balcony and saw Avery and Asuna in the doorway.

"Avery, King, Dante, with me." I shouted as I walked pass them.

"Sir!" They all shouted in response, jumping in surprise and rushing to catch up with me.

"You three are the highest operating field officers. I need the best three hundred of your men as soon as possible." I told them. "Dismissed."

Avery gave me a strange look and opened her mouth to say something but decided against it, leaving me with a gentle touch on the arm. I stood near the exit to the guild hall, thinking things over in my head, strategies, why I agree to do this, trying to figure out another way to solve the issue at hand. My incomplete, incoherent thoughts were interrupted by Asuna coming up behind me.

"Everything ok?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah… I guess. Although I feel I should be asking you that question instead." I replied.

"Me?" She asked, feigning shock. "I'm, uh, great!"

"You don't have to lie to me, Asuna." I said sternly, folding my arms across my chest.

Asuna stared at me intensely, clearly thinking about how to answer me. She kept her stoic, serious body language and facial expression. Asuna was trying to not show any weakness.

"Asuna, if something is bothering you, you can tell me. You trust me, don't you?" I asked her.

Asuna looked down at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at me with misty eyes.

"I- I…" Asuna stuttered, swaying gently and then collapsing forward.

"Woah! Easy, easy." I said, catching her before she hit the floor.

Asuna held tightly to the front of my uniform, she was shaking and I could feel her warm tears wetting my front. I held her tightly to my chest as cried, I wasn't sure what else to do. We were standing there in the hall for so long that my arms got tired, and I slowly lowered us down to our knees.

"Asuna?" I asked quietly.

"I'm so happy you guys are back." I heard her say, her voice muffled through my armor and clothing.

"We are too, and we aren't leaving ever again." I told her.

Asuna pushed herself away from my chest and sat back on her legs. She wiped her eyes and looked at me.

"Really?"

"I promise."

"What did Heathcliff say? How did he change your mind?" She inquired.

"That's… not important. Look the plan isn't to kill anyone, just knock them up enough so that the Army knows not to mess with anyone anymore." I replied.

"And to show we are the strongest too, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I know that man too well." Asuna muttered. "Always about flexing his muscles."

"I want you to come with us, Asuna." I told her.

"Why?"

"Well, I need a right-hand man… or, er, woman." I explained.

"You have Avery though don't you?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. But she'll be in charge of one of the battalions. Beside that though, there is a reason Heathcliff is always threatening to replace me with you. You're an excellent leader. I want your help."

"One day I'll get that promotion." She said with a broad smile.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Now is that a yes or…?"

"Yes. I'll do it." She cut me off.

"Awesome. We are marching tomorrow. And by that, I mean we are teleporting down there."

* * *

It was a cold morning as I stood at the front of the army, many ranks of men in neat lines behind me. Avery stood at the head of one battalion about a quarter mile to my left, and Dante on the other a quarter mile to my right. King was at the head of my battalion, a few meters behind me. It was eerily silent, the only sounds being the clinking of armor, weapons, and shields. There was a cool, gentle wind that brushed past us as we waited, the air smelled of grass and wet earth.

Asuna stood to my right, I could feel her staring at me, so I looked at her and gave her a slight smile and a nod. She smiled back at me, her hand shifting to her sword hilt.

I put my hand up in the air and shouted. Asuna and I began to march forward, the soldiers behind us beginning to move as well. We were about a half mile outside of the Town of Beginnings, on the other side of a hill. I looked to both sides to see Avery and Dante leading their battalions forward as well. We climbed up the hill slowly, the crest approaching quickly. We hit the top of the grassy hill, and the town came into view. There was something else, too. A large sea of greens too dark to be grass and glittering metal was around the outside of the the town.

"What the… Holy shit." I muttered.

It was most certainly the Army standing rank and file in front of our entry point to the city.

"Halt!" I shouted.

Everyone stopped immediately, they weren't over the hill yet, so they didn't know what was happening, although they probably had some sense of what was going on. They were all muttering amongst themselves.

"Come on. We've gotta deal with this." I told Asuna, starting down the hill towards the Army.

"What are you thinking?" She asked me as someone began to approach us as well, I assumed their leader.

"I'm thinking I try to duel this guy to see if we can stop this fight." I explained.

"Well, hopefully that works." She replied.

We were then face to face with a large man donning gold colored armor and a green cape, he had a large warhammer hanging from his back.

"Welcome to floor one. Why the hell are you here?" He asked forcefully.

"You know why we are here." I told him.

"Yes, I suppose I do. I guess I expected the mighty Heathcliff himself. Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Brandon Wakahisa, Lieutenant General of the Knight of the Blood Oath." I answered.

"Oh? Well I'll say! The Dragon Kin himself. It doesn't matter who you are, if you don't get the fuck out of here, my army will destroy you." He shot at me.

"Are you so certain of that…?"

"General."

"Are you certain of that general? There is a reason why our guild is on the front lines while you are down here bullying helpless, scared people." I said to him with a smirk.

"We easily outnumber you two to one. I'd watch your mouth kid." He replied through clenched teeth.

"And we out-skill you five to one. I'd rather not spill any blood, mine or yours." I told him.

"Tell me why I don't waste you right here." He growled angrily.

"A duel, huh? How about if you win, we leave, if I win, you retreat and hand over control of the town to us." I offered.

"No control of the town, but you can have troops and a governor here. Oh, and this fight is to the death." He countered.

"To the death?"

"Yes, because you'll have to kill me before I retreat." He explained.

"Brandon…" Asuna whispered worriedly.

"Fine. Tell someone what is going on so your men know. Asuna, let the rest of us know as well." I demanded.

"I'm not…" Asuna started.

"Go. Please."

"I messaged my officers." The general informed me as Asuna slowly started back towards the men.

"Let's hope they keep your word." I replied.

"You mock the integrity of my men as well? I'll crush you for your arrogance." He threatened.

"We'll see." I said, drawing my sword and flicking it down to my side.

"To the death." He snarled, pulling the heavy warhammer off his back.

We stood about ten feet from each other, staring each other down. I knew nothing about this man or how he fought and he would kill me without any hesitation, I had to be careful. I deducted that he would be aggressive and rely on his pure power to try to beat me, as was the case with most users of heavy weapons. His attacks would be relatively easy to dodge compared to those of Avery's, or Asuna's, but unlike them, if he caught me it would most likely be over.

We slowly started to circle each other, as vultures would circle a dying animal. I decided to act first, leading off with a broad overhead feint that I turned into a roll to his right followed by an upward slash. He went to block my feint when I brought my sword up, but when I went to slice at him from behind, he caught my sword with the haft of his hammer. It caught me off guard, I wasn't sure how he had pulled off such a fast move with such a heavy weapon, and in my confusion, he swung his hammer at me horizontally. I ducked under the blow and slammed my shoulder into his chest, knocking him backwards. I stepped into a strong jab at his exposed body, successfully pushing my sword into his stomach. He gasped loudly but didn't falter. He swept my legs out from underneath me, sending me hard onto my back, my sword clattering to the ground.

I snatched my sword from the grass and scrambled wildly as I heard the hammer whizzing through the air. I narrowly avoided the devastating weapon as it slammed near my head, but now I had my chance. I quickly slashed my sword at him as I was on the ground, cutting his legs off at the knees, and sending him to the ground. I took my time standing up, he wasn't a threat to me any longer. I put my sword back in its sheath and began to walk away from the Army.

"I said to the death! Kill me!" He shouted angrily.

"No, I said I don't want to spill any blood." I shot back, before continuing back up the hill.

"You coward!" I heard a shout from the crowd.

One of the men came charging at me, sword drawn. I turned and faced him, standing calmly as he swung his sword down at me. I put my arm up and caught the blade between the scales on my gauntlets. I twisted my arm, wrenching the sword from his hands and shattering it as the scales clicked back together. I swept his legs out from underneath him and pinned him to the ground with my knee, pulling my blade from its sheath and putting it against his throat.

"Anyone else feel like trying to kill today?" I asked as the man cowered beneath me. "Well I'll be leaving then. I'll have some of my men stay behind to monitor the situation here."

I stood from the man's trembling body, heading up the hill back towards my guildmates. Avery, Asuna, Dante, and King were huddled together talking quietly, snapping to attention as they noticed me.

"King, take thirty of your men and set up a base in town. I'm appointing you to be Governor and oversee the Army's actions from now on." I told him.

"Yes sir!" He answered, hurrying off.

"We can all head home. We were able to handle things diplomatically." I explained to the rest of them.

"So you… killed him?" Asuna asked.

"No. I don't have the heart to kill a man who is just following orders." I replied.

"I'm glad you're ok." Avery interjected, giving me a hug. "Not that I doubted that you'd beat him."

"I hope Heathcliff is okay with this result." Dante said nervously.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Well… uh, we didn't ruff them up, like he wanted us to." Dante explained.

"Ah shit…"

* * *

"So, you fought two men and called it good?" Heathcliff asked, upset.

"Well, we had a deal. Plus, they were outside the city, so we couldn't fight them without people dying. I wasn't about to put all those lives at risk." I explained.

"This is embarrassing." He said exasperated.

"Embarrassing for who? Not us surely. I beat one of their best fighters in about a minute and let them know not to mess with us." I shot back.

"No, you told them not to mess with you. It shows nothing about our guild as whole." Heathcliff retorted.

"Sir-"

"Leave. I have some thinking to do." He cut me off, turning away from me.

I turned and walked out of his room, slamming the door behind me. Avery was leaning against a wall outside, picking at something on her gauntlet.

"Didn't go so well?" She asked, grabbing both of my hands.

"I'd be surprised if I wasn't replaced by someone later this week." I grumbled.

"Don't be stupid. How could he replace you? The only one close to as capable as you are is Asuna, and I don't think she has the right mindset for it right now." Avery said.

"Unfortunately for me, it doesn't matter what you think. It only matters what he thinks." I replied.

"Then there isn't anything we can do. Let's go home." Avery said sullenly, tugging me along behind her. "If it makes you feel any better, I think you did the right thing. A lot of people would've died pointlessly."

"Yeah, I think he is the only one who doesn't think that…"

 **A/N Soooooo... It wasn't quite 6 months this time but it was close. I have a decent excuse. College. Also I have been working on something really special to me. One of my best friends is designing a video game and he asked me to write the script. He gave me an outline and I'm filling in the blanks, but still, it's tough to write for something like that. Hopefully it shouldn't be too long before the next update. Don't forget to read and review! It helps a lot to see what y'all think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sword Art Online - Reforged**

Ch. 8 – Red-Nosed Reindeer

 _ **A/N Meant to have this finished for Christmas, obviously that didn't happen. No excuses, just laziness. Hope you enjoy :)**_

~~~ ** _Kirito_** ~~~

"I hear someone's been taking risks with their level raising." Agil said as I walked into his shop.

"You got any new info for me or what?" I asked him.

"Nothing worth charging you money for." He replied.

"You give info brokers a bad name." I joked.

"Hey, this wasn't in the beta test. It's a first-time event. How am I supposed to know what's going to happen? All I know is that tonight on Christmas Eve, the event boss is going to appear. He's called 'Nicholas the Renegade.' He's going to show up under a fir tree somewhere. The major guilds are searching everywhere for the tree as we speak. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?" Agil explained.

"Maybe."

"Are you thinking of going solo on this one?" Agil asked me.

I gave Agil a knowing nod and turned to walk out of the shop. The door was opened and in stepped a familiar face.

"Ah, looks like I just caught you. It has been a while 'Black Swordsman'." Brandon said as he entered Agil's store.

"Yeah I guess…" I replied, scratching the back of my head. "Were you… looking for me?"

"In a way. Just wanted to talk with an old friend." Brandon explained.

"Well I'm kinda busy right now." I told him, pushing past him and walking out into the street.

I wasn't interested in catching up, with Brandon or anyone. I wasn't in the mood for talking. I had heard the rumor about the Christmas event, Nicholas the Renegade was supposed to drop a unique revival item, one that brought people back to life. I was going to get it. I had to get it.

"Kirito, I know what you're up to." Brandon shouted at me.

I said nothing and kept walking away.

"Hey asshole! Stop being a senseless idiot!" He called again, his voice closer this time.

In the blink of an eye, I had drawn my sword and spun around, swinging my sword at Brandon.

"Dude, you gotta get some new moves." He said to me, surprising me as he blocked my strike and locked our swords.

"What do you want?" I asked him angrily.

"For you to stop being stupid. I won't… we won't let you fight this thing by yourself, it is suicide." He answered.

"Well you'll have to." I shot back.

"Don't throw your life away for this Kirito, stop being a stubborn bitch and listen to someone for once!" Brandon spat as our struggle intensified.

Neither of us gave any ground as we stood with our swords locked, pushing against each other. I stared him down as intensely as I could, feeling my arms start to tire, I couldn't keep this up against Brandon.

"You don't scare me Brandon." I told him.

"I should. I know you're getting tired Kirito, we just want to talk to you." He said to me.

"No, I have my reasons for doing what I'm doing. Now leave me alone." I replied through clenched teeth.

Brandon pushed with all his might against my blade, sending me backwards and making me fall on my back.

"Fine."

I watched him sheath his sword and walk away, adjusting his gauntlets as he did. I sat up, rubbing my back as I grabbed my sword that had clattered to the ground and put it on my back. There was a small group of people who had stopped to watch our altercation and they murmured amongst themselves as they watched me. I ignored them as I made my way out of town.

~~~ ** _Brandon_** ~~~

"He was as stubborn as ever." I told Asuna.

"Did he listen to you at all?" She asked me.

"I'd be surprised if he remembers a single word I said. Whatever his motives are, they are rock solid and apparently extremely important. I don't what happened to him, but I don't like how he reckless he is being with his life." I answered.

"Well… Why don't we go find him tonight? During the event?" Asuna proposed.

"Uh, hopefully he doesn't try and kill us."

"You think he'd try that?" Asuna questioned, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I don't know. I don't what's going through his head, but I could see just how important this is to him." I explained.

"So, if we interfere he'll be hella pissed off." Avery interjected.

"Uh, yeah he will. In his state I wouldn't be surprised if he attacked us, which was exactly what I said not even a minute ago. Thanks Avery." I complained, caught off guard.

"No problem." She said, punching my shoulder.

"Can we take this serious please? This is possibly Kirito's life at risk." I shot at her.

"Sorry." Avery said, shrinking away from me.

"Brandon." Asuna scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sorry Avery, just tightly wound here." I apologized.

"No, you're right. This place wouldn't be the same without Kirito, even if we do barely see him." Avery assured me. "Heathcliff assigned me and a division to search for the item tonight, so we'll have people out there, we'll find him and make sure he is safe."

"Is that good enough for little mister nervous over here?" Asuna asked, elbowing me in the side.

"Shut up, I know you guys care as much as I do about what happens to him." I shot back.

"Just kidding."

"Well, you'll be out with your squad tonight Avery, I guess Asuna and I can search a different floor, see if we can pick up any activity." I said.

"Sounds good guys, but I gotta head out like, right now." Avery responded, checking the time in her menu.

"Have fun bossing those lazy guys around. Don't get killed." I told her, kissing her on the forehead as she equipped her gear and walked out the front door.

"Don't have too much fun on Christmas Eve without me." Avery waved as she left.

"So." Asuna said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I guess we chill here for a bit then head out, its not like there are a lot of places the boss can show up. Just the one floor with snow so far." I explained.

"You making dinner?" She asked.

"What…? This is your house!" I shouted as she bounded off to her room. "Ah great…"

"Jeez, I'm glad frostbite doesn't have any permanent effects in this game, otherwise I'd be in a bit of trouble." I complained as Asuna and I trudged through the deep snow.

"I told you to wear better boots." Asuna giggled.

"Ah yes, because I totally have a pair of thigh-high boots like you, Asuna."

"They aren't just fashionable, they're also practical." She commented, stifling more laughter.

"I don't understand how you aren't freezing though, I mean you aren't even wearing _pants_." I exclaimed angrily.

"I guess that just means I have more resolve than you." Asuna joked.

"Resolve…? Oh please, as if. Just wait until you get snow in your skirt." I told her.

"How am I gonna get snow in my skirt?" She asked curiously.

"Like this!" I shouted, pushing her down into the foot of snow.

Asuna screamed as she fell, landing softly in the snow. She was screaming as she propped herself up on her hands and knees, shaking violently.

"Why you… you evil little…" Asuna stammered.

I could only laugh at her misery now, surprised she fell so easily into my prank. In the midst of my laughing and growing sense of pride of fooling her, I got hit in the face, hard, by a freezing cold snowball it almost knocked me over. I touched my stinging face in surprise as I looked at a shivering, smirking Asuna who was now standing up, who proceeded to hit me in the face with another snowball.

"I guess that's fair." I said, rubbing my face gently.

Then she hit me again, right in the eye and sent me reeling backwards.

"Oh, it's on now." I laughed, dodging a forth snowball.

"I'd like to see you try and hit me." Asuna shouted.

I scooped up a handful of snow, crushing it between my hands, molding it into a compact ball. I deftly rolled the ball in my hands, making it a more perfect sphere as I eyed down Asuna, who was doing the same. We both finished around the same time but stood unmoving, waiting for the other to make a move, snowballs in hand. She twitched, then the ball was flying out of her hand. It hit me right in the breastplate, spraying snow up into my face, temporarily blinding me. I threw my own snowball wildly and I heard a shrieking laughter from Asuna.

By the time I could see clearly again, she was gone. The only trace of her were some footsteps and handprints in the snow leading into the forest.

"Resorting to hiding, huh? I thought you were the mighty and brave Lightning-Flash Asuna?" I taunted her, stomping after her footsteps.

As I entered the trees, I looked behind the first tree. I was hit immediately and driven to the ground as Asuna tackled me into a snow bank. She shrieked and laughed as we landed, her body weight on top of me, making my fall slightly less enjoyable. Her face was against my neck, and she brought it up to look at me.

We stared at each other as we laid in the snow, Asuna's amber colored eyes examining my face as I watched her. I could feel her heart hammering in her chest through my armor, and realized mine was too. Asuna drew closer until our noses were brushing against each other, our lips just barely not meeting. I cupped her face in my hand, gently cradling it as she kissed me, just briefly, on the lips.

"Asuna." I said seriously, letting go of her.

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing." I asked quietly and ashamedly.

"Me…? You…? I-I… What- I'm so sorry. Oh god, what did I do?" Asuna cried, sitting up, tears starting to stream down her face.

"Shhhh. Just calm down."

"No, I-I shouldn't have. I'm Avery's friend… and-and I just…" Asuna stammered.

"Asuna. It's not just your fault." I tried to tell her, feeling awfully guilty.

"I should stay away. I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. I'll see you at debriefing tomorrow." Asuna said hurriedly, jumping up and sprinting away.

"Asuna!" I shouted after her, but she wasn't stopping.

I stood up and brushed the snow off me and ran my hand through my hair. I felt awful about hurting Asuna like that, and I felt just as equally awful about betraying Avery's trust. I stood with my head in one hand and my other on my hip for a good while until my HUD beeped and got a message from Avery, her group and Klein's guild had bumped into Kirito, and the boss. Avery said that the Holy Dragon Alliance was there and her division along with Klein were holding off those pesky treasure hoarding thieves for Kirito, so he could fight the boss.

"God damn it." I growled, sprinting off towards there position, which was nearby.

I could hear the sounds of battle nearby. As I dashed through the trees, I could see our men, Klein's guys, and Avery fighting against the silver armored Holy Dragon Alliance. Klein, and Avery caught me out of the corner of their eyes and nodded as I sprinted past to find Kirito. It was deeper in the forest now, so there was much less snow on the ground here. I heard a single, male shout close to me, definitely Kirito's.

I could see the boss towering above me just about a hundred meters away from me. It was a giant Santa Claus, I'm not sure what else I expected from the game. I saw Kirito fighting him, alone. As I approached, I saw him slip on the icy, snow covered forest floor, falling to the ground. The giant Santa monster grinned menacingly and bellowed a deep _Ho Ho Ho!_ As it swung its axe down at Kirito. I leapt out from the trees into the clearing just in time to slam my shoulder into the Santa monster, knocking it off balance.

"Need a hand?" I asked, helping Kirito to his feet.

He only looked at my annoyedly.

"Why are you here?" He questioned as we engaged the Santa.

"I mean, I think I just showed you why." I said rather matter-of-factly, blocking a strike from the monster, allowing Kirito to get some hits in.

"Always rushing in to save the day. It'll get you killed one day." Kirito told me, as I ducked under a sweeping blow and chopped at the Santa's knees.

"I got to when there's so many reckless people around me." I told him. "I got you."

Kirito jumped up on my shoulders and propelled off them, landing on the Santa's head and driving his sword through its head, killing it.

"You're pretty stupid sometimes too." He said to me as he hit the ground.

"Yeah, well I know I've got friends and guild mates who will watch out for me when I am stupid." I replied.

Kirito just scoffed.

"Thanks, but I don't need your help, or your lectures."

Kirito checked his inventory and examined what I assumed was the revival item in his inventory. I watched it appear in his hands as he read the description. He made a strange, guttural sound before throwing the object over his shoulder at me. I reached to catch it, barely holding onto it.

"What…? Kirito?" I asked, but he was gone, teleported away.

I stared at the little bluish orb cradled in my hands for a moment before depositing it in my inventory. I scratched my head, hating how people kept running away from me before we could talk things through. I started to head back to where Avery and Klein were earlier, slowing walking through the snow.

They met me half way, all of them tired and breathing heavy.

"Well?" Avery and Klein asked together.

"We beat it, but Kirito left right after. He left me this too." I explained, showing them the revival item.

"Why did he do that?" Klein demanded.

"If I knew I would've told you. I don't know what is going on with him." I replied.

"He's a damn idiot. I swear if he gets himself killed…" Klein muttered to himself. "I'll keep my eye on him, but right now, we need some sleep."

"Alright, good night Klein, and Merry Christmas." I said as he departed.

"Dismissed." Avery shouted, the men slumping and heading away in a clump of white and red cloth and metal. "Where is Asuna?"

"I don't know." I told her. "Something happened, I'm not sure what, but she just kinda broke down and ran away."

"Really?" She said, sounding surprised and a bit unbelieving.

"Can we get out of this snow and cold while we finish this talk after Christmas?"

"Yeah, my boots and stocking are so wet, it's disgusting." Avery complained, feigning a gag before taking my hand.


End file.
